Lagos police nab man over alleged N15.4m gold fraud

Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command have apprehended a 37-year-old man over an alleged fraud involving gold valued at N15.4 million.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered the suspect is being investigated for alleged obtaining by false pretence and stealing.

Following the report, the state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Tijani, directed that the case be transferred from the Sabo Police Division to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Yaba.

According to Tijani, the case is being transferred for further investigation.

A police source told NAN on Friday that the complainant reported that the suspect approached him on July 14 to purchase gold worth N15.4 million.

The source said: “The complainant said the suspect promised to transfer the payment after taking delivery of the items.

“The suspect after collecting the gold became unreachable.

“When the suspect was later traced, he pleaded for another consignment of gold valued at N6 million and promised to pay the outstanding balance of about N9 million.

“The suspect failed to honour the promise and instead used a similar method to obtain gold from other unsuspecting dealers,” he said. 

The source said efforts were ongoing to establish the full extent of the alleged fraud and identify other possible victims.

He said that investigation into the allegations was being handled by the Swift Enquiry Team of the SCID.

He said the investigation was under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the department, Dayo Akinbisehin. 

According to the source, the suspect will be charged to court after the conclusion of the investigation.

𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖/𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖