Two suspected fraudsters, Olayinka Adeola and Ibrahim Balogun, have told detectives how they lure their would-be victims to their shrine to defraud them. The suspects were arrested by detectives from Zone 2, Command, Lagos, at the weekend at Owode Obafemi-Ofada Road, Ogun State, based on a tip-off.
A 64-year-old nurse named Goodluck Ogbodu of Effa Street, Ughelli, Delta State, who was lured to Lagos by the gang was rescued when detectives raided the fraudsters’ shrine. One of the suspects, Olayinka Adeola, told the police that the fraudsters take victims to their shrine where they make them to swear to an oath not to divulge any information about their demands to friends or family members.
According to Adeola, there was really nothing fetish about the shrine and they were only using it to deceive their victims.
He said:
“We are catchers. Our job is to look for victims. At times, we drive from Sango to Lagos and back to Sango looking for would-be victims. Most of our victims are people who we carry as passengers. We will start up discussions with them while driving in our Sienna car. We will tell them of about millions of dollars which someone forgot in our car and how we want to hand it over to the police. At times, we will start an argument about what to do with the money in order to arouse the interest of the victim.“Once the victims become interested in our discussion, we will take them to our shrine where we will make them swear to an oath. We will ask the victims to bring money to buy chemicals to wash the dollars.“The nurse came to Lagos from Delta. He was lured by a member of our gang.”
Police Zonal Public Relations Officer, Zone 2, Dolapo Badmos, who confirmed the arrest, said operatives of the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS) while on routine patrol along the Owode Obafemi- Ofada Road, discovered a Sienna bus packed in a suspicious manner. Badmos said the operatives accosted the occupants and, upon enquiries, discovered that they were suspected fraudsters whose modus operandi was to lure people into a shrine and dupe them of their hard-earned money.
“Upon investigation it was discovered that the suspected fraudsters, Adeola and Balogun had lured Ogbodu of Effa Street, Ughelli, Delta State to Lagos State on the pretence they would make him rich. “The suspects had obtained the sum of N150,000 from the victim. The loot was recovered from the shrine. The suspects, who have confessed to the crime, also stated that they have used the same mode to dupe many unsuspected victims. The case will be charged to court at the conclusion of investigation,” the police spokesperson said.