No fewer than 109 persons are cooling off at Gombe State Police Command over suspected illegal entry into the country from the Benin Republic.
Those arrested included four Beninois and two Nigerians.
Disclosing this at a media briefing, Commissioner of Police, Ishola Babaita, said the group were brought into the State in three buses from Benin, with the support of their Nigerian collaborators.
Babaita said upon interrogation, the suspects claimed they were members of QNET, an online networking scheme.
He said, “On the 18th of January 2022, the command received information that three hummer buses brought some groups of young men numbering 109.
“Immediately, police operatives in synergy with DSS were dispatched to the scene and the people were invited to DSS facility where they were interrogated and later two Nigerians Abdullahi Yusuf Adamu 26 years of Jekadafari, Gombe State, and Jasper Jacob(33) of Taraba but based in Jekadafari, Gombe State, were transferred to police for information and possible prosecution while four Beninois namely Dafton Wakon Elysee, Hopko Adolphe, Jamal Salami, Emmanuel Haunukon were handed to Nigeria Immigration Service.”
While urging unsuspecting public to be wary of illicit business, Babaita said all the suspects would be charged to court.
“It may interest the general public to know that this group comprises of Nigerians and Beninois, who entered this country illegally. From the foregoing, it has been established that the suspects are into ponzi scheme to defraud unsuspecting members of the public,” Babaita added.
On his part, Adolphe from Benin told correspondents that they were on a mission to enlighten Gombe people about their business.
He denied any wrongdoings, saying his motive was to empower Gombe youths.
“We came to Gombe because Jasper and Abdullahi (Nigerian) invited us to know about QNET business. This is my first time here, prior to now I have never seen them before,” he said.
Also speaking, a member of the network, Solomon Micah, said he ventured into the business with N500,000.
He said “the business deals with partnership. When you invest, you must have your partners. I paid N500,000 to get registered. I was paid a bonus of 50 USD, about N27,000.”
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