Saturday, June 21, 2025 - The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday June 19 and Friday, June 20, 2025, secured the conviction and sentence of 15 Chinese, two Filipinos and one Pakistani for cyber-terrorism and internet fraud before Justices Chukwujekwu Aneke, Ayokunle Faji and Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos
The commission gave the names of the suspects as Peng Li
Huan, Zhang Jin Rong, He Kun, Rachelle Cabalona, Caselyn Pionela, Guo Long
Long, Zhang Hua Zhai, Lin Hao Bo, Chen Fusheng, Chen Dong Dong, Wang Gong Lin,
Pan Cai Yu, Huang Ren Jian, Zhang Xiao Lei, Khurram Shahzad, Chen Yuan, Wu Yong
An and Chen Xin.
The suspects were arraigned on separate charges bordering on
cyber-terrorism and internet fraud.
One of the charges reads
“That you,
Caselyn Pionela, sometime in December 2024, in Lagos, within the
jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, willfully caused to be accessed, computer
systems organized to seriously destabilize and destroy the fundamental economic
and social structure of Nigeria when you procured/employed Nigerian youths for
identity theft and to hold themselves out as persons of foreign nationality,
with the intent to gain financial advantage for yourselves and you thereby
committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 18 of the
Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As amended 2024) and
Section 2(3)(d) of the Terrorism (Prevention, Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
They all pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read
to them.
In view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel, Spiff
Owede, Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, Chinenye Okezie, Ebuka Okongwu, B.M Isah and Nambam
Mutfwang respectively prayed the court to convict the defendants and also order
the forfeiture all the exhibits recovered from them.
The judges found them guilty of the charges and
convicted them accordingly.
All the convicts were sentenced to one year imprisonment,
with a fine of N1,000,000.00 (One Million Naira).
The judge also ordered that upon completion of their
sentences, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS,
should ensure that they are repatriated to their country of origin within seven
days.
The judge also ordered that the items recovered from them be
forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The convicts are among the 792 suspects arrested by
operatives of the EFCC for alleged cyber-terrorism. They were charged to
court and jailed.
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