Calabar Jobs Fraud victims rescued by State Command of the NSCDC.
Williams Akpan, Calabar
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Cross River State Command, has dismantled an alleged transnational criminal syndicate operating under the guise of a multi-level marketing business in Calabar, rescuing 42 people during an intelligence-led operation.
The State Commandant, CC Okarazu Chima Eke, disclosed this on Tuesday while parading the rescued victims and arrested members of the syndicate before journalists at the State Command Headquarters, Murtala Mohammed Highway, Calabar.
Eke briefed journalists on the outcome of the operation, explaining that the command had successfully rescued the victims and apprehended the suspected members of the syndicate.
Eke said the operation was conducted between Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15, following intelligence gathered by the command’s Intelligence Department.
According to him, operatives raided a five-bedroom facility allegedly being used by the syndicate as an indoctrination and holding centre within the Calabar metropolis.
He said 42 people, aged between 22 and 36, were found at the facility and rescued or apprehended during the operation, depending on their alleged roles in the scheme.
The commandant added that operatives later tracked and arrested the alleged prime cell leader, identified as Timothy Bayi, an indigene of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
Eke said the syndicate allegedly targeted young people by advertising supposed employment opportunities in countries including South Africa, Malaysia and Côte d’Ivoire.
He explained that prospective victims were allegedly brought to Calabar after being promised overseas employment and subsequently asked to pay millions of naira into designated accounts purportedly for visa and international documentation.
CC Okarazu Chima Eke said, “The level of deceit employed by this syndicate is alarming.”
According to the commandant, after payments were made, the promised foreign employment was allegedly abandoned, while victims were kept at the facility and introduced to what he described as an illegal pyramid-style marketing arrangement.
He said victims were allegedly required to recruit at least two other people in an attempt to recover money they had paid, while the supposed products, described as “biodics and jewellery”, were not physically seen by the victims interviewed by the command.
Eke said the operation had international dimensions, noting that those rescued included 28 Nigerian males, six Nigerian females, five Cameroonian nationals and three Beninese nationals.
He added that the eight foreign nationals were allegedly found without valid international travel documents and that the command was working with the Nigeria Immigration Service to establish their identities and immigration status.
The commandant disclosed that Bayi had mentioned an alleged affiliation with a major service compliance and logistics company headquartered in Lagos, stressing that the NSCDC was still investigating the claim.
The Commandant said, “We are currently verifying the nature and extent of this claim.”
He said the command would pursue the investigation to establish the identities of other individuals allegedly connected to the network, regardless of how high or low they might be in the organisation.
The NSCDC boss warned job seekers and parents against unverified foreign employment offers, get-rich-quick schemes and arrangements requiring substantial payments before purported recruitment or travel.
“There is no shortcut to wealth,” he warned.
For a better society
Follow us across our platforms:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/championnewsonline/
Facebook – https://web.facebook.com/championnewsonline
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/champion-newspapers-limited/
https://x.com/championnewsng/
You can also like and comment on our YouTube videos.
https://youtu.be/QIBfD1tT80w?si=R4Qf3so2LxYu3GC2
