By BOSE ADELAJA

The operated like the Biblical thief in the night. But since he was not Jesus Christ, the Messiah, he was promptly arrested by men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.

That is the story of one 44-year-old Michael Ogun who is presently cooling his heels in detention for alleged fraud and money laundering.

Before his arrest, Michael was said to have duped many job seekers of their hard-earned money with promises of securing employment for them in the NSCDC and other law enforcement organisations. Of course they were all oblivious that he was a fraudster until nemesis caught up with him.

The suspect, who hails from Uromi in Esan North LGA Area of Edo State, was arrested on Wednesday July 30, 2014 based on intelligence report.

Michael, who claimed to be a contractor with the Ministry of Defence, was, according to the National PRO of the NSCDC, Okeh Emmanuel, apprehended at his residence in New Nyanya behind White House in Karu Local Government Area of Nassarawa State which he used as a hideout to perpetrate his nefarious activities.

Okeh said the alleged fraudster opened a Facebook account in the name of the Commandant General of the Corps as a means of swindling applicants by asking them to pay money into some of the bank accounts given for the purpose of recruitment.

As at the time of his arrest, he was allegedly operating 50 bank accounts with different names. In his confessional statement, he said he had defrauded applicants seeking for employment into the NSCDC, the Customs, Immigration and other services to the tune of N403,624,992.00. Apart from that, it was said that his other fraudulent financial transactions, particularly money laundering which earned him N552, 371,901.50, fetched him a cumulative princely amount of N955, 996,893.50.

On his mode of operation, the PRO said the alleged fraudster printed fake employment letters of different agencies, including the Corps, the Nigeria Immigration Services and the Nigeria Customs Services and issued same to his victims by urging them to report for documentation at a particular time.

Okeh warned desperate applicants to follow due process of recruitment into the various services rather than seeking assistance on the internet. “The General Public should note that the Commandant General of the Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurin, does not operate any Facebook account for the purpose of recruitment…; the Corps in general has never been involved in an on-line recruitment. Therefore, anyone who patronises fraudsters on-line does so at its own risk and the Corps will take no responsibility for this act of desperation or foolishness,’’ he said.

Michael Ogun, he said, was one out of the several scammers on the prowl to defraud desperate applicants in the name of employment. “The corps shall hand him over to the EFFCC for further investigations, especially as regards his internet fraud and money laundering,’’ he added.

A week after the arrest, Okeh said the suspect had confessed committing the crime of defrauding applicants to the tune of N403,624,992.00 .

He said the suspect, at the time of arrest was also in possession of several documents, including fake appointment letters of various services, including that of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, which were retrieved from his mobile phones and laptop.

Michael who earlier denied the allegation and claimed he was set up later admitted he only did that before the press and his family members and friends to convince them that he was innocent of the charges against him.

While advising members of the public to be careful in dealing with people of questionable character in order not to fall victims of their fraudulent acts, the Commandant General of the Corps Dr. Ade Abolurin, also warned job applicants to beware of people with sinister motives like Michael Ogun, who, he said, are still lurking around as employment agents to deceive desperate job seekers by promising them recruitment into the Corps and other organisations.

He enjoined job seekers to contact the Corps Public Relations unit, the Servicom unit, Anti-fraud and other offices of the Corps across the federation admonishing that: “A stitch in time saves nine. Ignorance is not an excuse in the law court. If caught, both the suspect and victim are liable to the same offence and shall be treated as common criminals in accordance to the law of the Federation”.