By Gbenga Olatinoye

OSOGBO—The Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC, yesterday arrested three members of a notorious fraud syndicate in the state. The suspects, Akinlotan Kolawole Olushola, Olayiwola Oladayo and Bolarinwa Adebayo a.k.a Dodo were said to have duped unsuspecting citizens through fake visa travelling deals.

According to a statement from the state NSCDC, the syndicate allegedly duped an Enugu based businessman, Hon. Nnamchi Nichodemus of a sum of N700,000 through a dubious travelling transaction in November last year.

Nichodemus was said to have been tricked into paying the said money into an account belonging to Olushola, an undergraduate student at the National Open University.

The statement added that after receiving a credit alert, Olushola who was promised a sum of N105, 000, was said to have immediately gone to the bank to collect the money through the Automatic Teller Machine, ATM, and the counter, while he handed over the balance to Oladayo for onward transmission to Adebayo a.k.a Dodo.

Olushola was said to have gone into hiding after they were declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as he abandoned his study at the Open University while the other two suspects also went incommunicado.

Nemesis, however, caught up with the suspects who have been declared wanted by the EFCC on Monday, as they were arrested by NSCDC officers who have been on their trail for over six months.

Olushola, who was arrested within the premises of the Open University while trying to process his transfer of study to another location outside Osun State led the NSCDC to the hideouts of the other two suspects.

Desperate to get off the hook, the suspects were said to have offered a bribe to the NSCDC officers who arrested them, but they turned down the offer.

The suspects have since been handed over to the EFCC by the state Commandant of the NSCDC, Tajudeen Ayobami Balogun for prosecution.