Ogun police arrest ‘fake clerics’ for N14.5m fraud (Photo)

Mem­bers of a fraud syndicate including two 'white witches' have been arrested by the Ogun State Police Com­mand for swindling a couple of N14.5 million.

 

According source, they were arrested in a spe­cial raid carried out on their den at Omusorin village within the Obafem-Owode local government area of the state.

The fifth suspect, who was said to be the ring leader, Baba Awotola, was said to have fled on sighting the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

The Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, who disclosed this to journalists, said that the phys­ically-challenged Ajani, claimed to be an Islamic cleric and lured the couple who are raw food-stuff dealers into the net of the syndicate. Ikemefuna explained that Ajani had donned an Islamic cleric’s robe and accosted the couple around Owode Onirin, Lagos, and gave them a revelation of a problem before them which needed to be warded off through special prayers.

The couple, who would not want their names in print explained that the syn­dicate under the pretext of warding off the evil before them collected N14.5 mil­lion in three installments from them.
The victims also stated that the syndicate used the two women in their fold – Risiqat and Sola – as ‘white witches’ who descended from ‘heaven’ and claimed to possess powers that could assist them in warding off evils that had over the years been troubling their lives.

The women however de­manded money to fly back to their base in ‘heaven’ which accounted for why the fraudsters succeeded in getting close to N15 million from the couple.
In their confessional statements to newsmen, the physically-challenged Ajani said he got the information about the couple from the fleeing Baba Awotola.

“It was Baba Awotola who introduced me to this shady business. He asked me whether I want to die a wretched man. He was the one who gave the informa­tion that the couple had a problem and that they are a bit comfortable. He prom­ised me a car and a sum of N300,000, but he only gave me and Shehu N100,000 each,” he confessed.

Okoye, however, warned residents to be wary of fraudsters who parade themselves as clerics and urged the people to report any shady activities they noticed in their communi­ties to the police.