EFCC detains American lady over $760,668 fake cheques

LAGOS—The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has detained a 24- year-old American lady, Sharon Denis Thorpe, over her involvement in a counterfeit cheque scam valued at $760, 668.

Thorpe, a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, was arrested in  Lagos on Saturday, 20 February 2010 while about to board a Qatar Airways flight to Washington DC.

The suspect who parades an American passport had been in Nigeria since November 2009, ostensibly on vacation with one Musediku Akorede Kehinde, her fiancé, who is believed to be the mastermind of the crime.

Thorpe has however, told her interrogators that the counterfeit cheques were given to her by one Femi Atoms, a friend of Musediku who is at large.

Thorpe, arrested by officials of the State Security Service, SSS, has since been handed over to the EFCC. The suspect is presently being interrogated.