Five persons are being detained at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in Ikoyi, Lagos for allegedly being in possession of fake American and British visas.Raji Oluseyi Michael, Adegoke Johnson, Popoola Oladimeji, St. John Ojo Osaghae and Smart Imafidon were said to be members of a syndicate involved in the circulation of forged documents to unsuspecting members of the public seeking to procure genuine visa from embassies.
Raji, Adegoke and Popoola were arrested based on a petition from the Regional Security Office of the United States Consulate in Lagos alleging that Raji had in his Nigerian passport No. No. A04910344, a fake UK visa.
John Ojo Osaghae and Smart Imafidon were arrested for applying for UK visa with forged income tax clearance certificates from the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue Service. SFU Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Isintume-Agu, said John Ojo Osaghae with Nigerian passport No. A0 3916493 applied for a six months visit visa to UK early in November.
She said based on the strength of the petitions, SFU detectives arrested the five suspects. Raji, a 32 year old who hails from Ibadan, Oyo State and holds a HND in Purchasing & Supply from the Kwara State Polytechnic told Daily Trust that the visa was given to him by one Popoola who also resides in Ibadan for N500,000.
He claimed to have paid only N200,000 to balance N300,000.00 at the end of his interview with the US embassy, adding that Popoola sent Adegoke to accompany him to the embassy to find out if the visa was issued from where they were arrested.
“It was one Mr. Ayodeji who currently resides in UK that introduced Popoola to me”, Popoola said. The SFU spokesperson said investigation revealed that Popoola Oladimeji, a forged document vendor, has his network stretching as far as Olowole market area of Lagos.
“He further confessed that he contracted one Taiwo Akande in Oluwole who procured the six months UK visa and Holland visa for N115,000 respectively.
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