Presiding over the case on Tuesday, May 27, Justice Alexander Owoeye handed down the sentence after the accused pleaded guilty to separate charges related to the possession of fr@udulent documents.
A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has convicted and sentenced eight Filipino nationals to one year in prison each for crimes related to cyber-terrorism and internet fr@ud.
Presiding over the case on Tuesday, May 27, Justice Alexander Owoeye handed down the sentence after the accused pleaded guilty to separate charges related to the possession of fr@udulent documents.
The convicts are Beverlyn Casino, Mae Eribal, Mary Grace Dela Cruz, Jamal Polea, Tricia Castro, Rai Camara, Cherry De Leon, and Danica Jarapan.
According to a statement released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the eight individuals were arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the commission.
Each faced charges tied explicitly to their involvement in internet-related crimes and the use of false documents.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Beverlyn Casino sometime in December 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, willfully caused to be accessed, computer systems organised to seriously destabilise 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 a 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.”
However, they all pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read to them.
Meanwhile, the prosecution counsel, N.K. Ukoha, prayed the court to convict the defendants as charged.
Justice Owoeye convicted and sentenced the defendants to one year in prison each, with a fine of N1,000,000.00 (One Million Naira).
The Judge also ordered the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to ensure that the convicts are repatriated to their country of origin within seven days upon completion of their sentences.
The devices recovered from the defendants were also ordered forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre began when operatives of the EFCC arrested them for cyber-terrorism and internet fr@ud. They are among the 792 suspects rounded up in December 2024 on Victoria Island, Lagos.
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