TRACKING>>Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 37 suspected ‘Yahoo boys’ and recovered 25 exotic cars in Owerri, Imo State. The arrest followed a raid on some targeted homes in Okwu Urata, Aladinma and Egbu areas. The EFCC spokesman, Tony Orilade, said the commission’s action followed intelligence report which pointed that the suspects were living lavish lifestyles without any known means of livelihood. It was further alleged that the suspects specialised in defrauding unsuspecting victims, through the internet.
He said: “In the course of executing the search warrants, items which included laptops, 25 five exotic cars, which include several brands of Mercedez- Benz, Lexus, Toyota and expensive mobile phones, were recovered.” The Zonal Head in Imo State, Usman Imam, who said the exercise was in line with the commission’s mandate, decried the high rate of cybercrime in the zone which he blamed on the erosion and breakdown of country’s values. He said: “It is true that no society has been able to totally eradicate crime, but we are ready at least to reduce it to the barest minimum.
It appears that this cybercrime is one of the challenges of our time, which the EFCC is willing to face drastically.” Questioning the lifestyle of the suspects, Imam said; “What is the business of a university student, a new graduate or ‘youth corper’ looking for money to buy a car of N10 million? Obviously, this is rushing life and a collapse of our positive value system where people rarely want to start from a humble beginning.” Imam lamented that if nothing was done, the country’s leadership could be jeopardised as many youths involved in cybercrime were expected to take up leadership positions in the future.
