Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have nabbed 30 suspected internet fraudsters during a raide carried out at Parktonian Hotel in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
The raide, according to EFCC, was conducted due to an intelligent gathering on the illicit activities of the suspects.
Meanwhile, the operatives have been alleged of forcing their ways into the occupants’ rooms after seizing the master cards from the management of the hotel at gunpoint.
An occupant who spoke to the Peoples Gazette, said “I was naked, and I had to beg them (for me) to put something on. I am actually hypertensive, but I put myself together because I am not a criminal in any way.”
An eyewitness told the Peoples Gazette, “They broke into the hotel and threatened to shoot the receptionists and management workers if they didn’t immediately release the master access card to them. So, the hotel workers had to comply immediately.”
The EFCC spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren, said the raid was carried out upon verified intelligence gathring.
He said, “Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, acting on verified intelligence, carried out a sting operation targeted at cybercrime suspects at Parktonian Hotel in the Lekki area of Lagos State in the early hours of Tuesday.
“During the exercise, 30 suspects were arrested. Of this number, 24 have been established to be involved in internet-related fraud. The operation was executed without incident as the facility had been under surveillance for weeks during which the commission was able to isolate the rooms where the suspects were lodged.
“Access to the rooms was seamless as the commission has standard procedure for accessing such facilities without application of force or discomfort to guests. No guest of the hotel was molested.
“But the commission observes a disturbing trend in which cybercrime suspects now employ and kept ladies who feign nakedness as a decoy to distract operatives of the commission to enable them to destroy incriminating evidence before arrest.”