TRACKING___While the identities of the 10 other accomplices arrested alongside two ‘celebrity hackers’ Ramon Olorunwa Abass aka Hushpuppi and Olalekan Jacob Ponle aka Mr Woodbery, remain unknown, Neusroom findings have revealed that one of the unnamed suspects is Sikiru Adekoya.
The Dubai Police said Hushpuppi, Woodberry and others were arrested during operation Fox Hunt 2, a coordinated raid on the residences of suspects and their accomplices while they slept. The Police said they recovered documents evidencing fraud “on a global scale” worth 1.6 billion dirham (N168 billion). While the two celebrity fraud suspects have been repatriated to the United States where they will be standing trial, no information was released about the other suspects.
The Dubai Police said Hushpuppi, Woodberry and others were arrested during operation Fox Hunt 2, a coordinated raid on the residences of suspects and their accomplices while they slept. The Police said they recovered documents evidencing fraud “on a global scale” worth 1.6 billion dirham (N168 billion). While the two celebrity fraud suspects have been repatriated to the United States where they will be standing trial, no information was released about the other suspects.
Investigations by Neusroom, however, revealed that Sikiru is one of the suspects believed to be in detention in Dubai.
According to sources who would not like to be named, Sikiru is Hushpuppi’s friend and they lived together in Oworonsoki, Lagos before Hushpuppi left Nigeria for Dubai, United Arab Emirates some years ago.
“The only person Hushpuppi helped in this area is Sikiru Adekoya who is now in Dubai with him but his wife and kid are still here in Oworonsoki,” said one source who was willing to provide details, including an Instagram handle belonging to Sikiru.
When Neusroom checked Sikiru’s Instagram handle, we observed several similarities with Hushpuppi’s page – display of wealth, exotic cars and photos taken with Hushpuppi fill the timeline. His last post was on May 31, 2020, 10 days before the arrest.
When we checked the photos of the 10 other suspects arrested alongside Hushpuppi, Sikiru’s photo appeared directly above Hushpuppi’s. A confirmation that he is one of the ‘unknown’ suspects arrested by the police in Dubai.
Neusroom could not confirm further details as the Dubai Police are yet to respond to email enquiries.
In some of the videos on Hushpuppi’s IG page, Sikiru is believed to be the voice behind the camera filming and hyping him. When Hushpuppi added a white Rolls Royce to his fleet of luxury cars early this year, Sikiru was the voice behind the camera filming the unveiling of the car. Hushpuppi also swiftly mentioned his name in the video.
On his Instagram page with 19,000 followers, less than one percent of Hushpuppi’s over 2.4 million followers, are photos he took with stars like Romelu Lukaku and Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh.
In many of his IG posts, Sikiru is seen praising Hushpuppi for “taking him out of poverty.” “If I gat him at my back @hushpuppi I gat the world at my back,” he wrote in an Instagram post where he shared his photo with Hushpuppi in March 2019.
