A suspected fraudster, John Eze, has been arrested by the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State, for allegedly defrauding a
Bureau De Change operator, Ismaila Ali, in the Ikoyi area of the state.
It was learnt that 34-
year-old Eze had approached Ali sometime in January 2017, to exchange the sum of $7,000
for the naira equivalent.
Ali was said to have paid Eze N3,451,000, buying the dollars at the rate of N493 per
dollar.
The duo reportedly parted ways after the transaction, which held inside the suspect’s
LEXUS 470 Jeep with number plate, Lagos AKD 612 DA.
The bubble burst when Ali got to his office on Treadsmaqueen Street, Ikoyi, where another
customer was waiting to exchange naira for dollars.
As he brought out the money, he
allegedly discovered that Eze gave him fake 74 pieces of 100 dollar note.
Ali said that efforts to reach the suspect on a telephone number he gave him for future
transactions were abortive, as the line was switched off. Ali said the suspect told him his
(Eze) wife mentioned him to him.
He said he became interested in the conversation when the suspect brought out the
dollars.
Ali said as they were about to part ways after
the transaction, the suspect received a call
from a woman he claimed to be his wife.
The woman reportedly disagreed on the
exchange rate.
PUNCH Metro was told that due to the
disagreement, Eze demanded his dollars and
returned the naira. He was said to have
persuaded the BDC operator to follow him to
his construction site to convince his wife that
the rate was good.
“He told me that his wife has £11,000 to sell to me. When we got to a traffic light on Osborne
Road, he stopped to receive another call and said his wife said he should collect the money.
He added that he would not be able to go to the construction site again because his wife
was going to Ajah for a meeting. He said he
would call us at Ajah to come for the £11,000.
“I collected the naira from my boy at the back
and passed it to him, while he used his left
hand to pass the dollars to my boy directly. My
boy did not check because he thought it was
the dollars we had counted earlier. He put the
money in his pocket.
“After we alighted from the vehicle, my mind
told me to take his number plate, which I did,” Ali said.
He explained that when he got to the office and
his apprentice brought out the $7,000 for a
business transaction, they discovered that “that
the dollars were fakes,” adding that the suspect
had switched off his phone.
He explained that he reported the matter to the
police at the Special Fraud Unit, adding that he was referred to the X-Squad at Zone 2.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the police, upon checking with the vehicle licensing office,
discovered that the address given when the
vehicle was registered was non-existent.
Our correspondent was told that a check on his telephone line showed it had been used to call
only one number between December 2016 and February 2017.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the suspect, however, used the line to call a painter in Asaba, Delta State.
The painter, identified as Tony, was subsequently arrested by the police and handed
over to the Zone 2 command where he confessed to know the suspect. Tony led the
police to the Ogba area of Lagos, where Eze
was arrested last Friday.
“Immediately we entered the house, the first
thing I saw was the Jeep he used to defraud me.
“When he was arrested, he said he could not
release all the money because his group
operate as a team and they had shared the
money. He said he got N1.5m from the money
and that is what he can return to me. But I
want all my money back. He has a house and
three cars,” the victim said.
The Zone 2 Police Public Relations Officer, SP
Dolapo Badmos, said the suspect had
confessed to the crime.
She said, “The BDC operator was smart enough
to get the vehicle number plate and that aided police investigation. The suspect, upon his arrest, confessed to the crime. The Assistant
Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Aderanti, has ordered that the suspect be brought to justice.”
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