Six Facebook hackers who pleaded guilty have been jailed in Calabar.
The convicts are; Lawrence Nnamdi-Mba Ebesike, Prince E. Udeh, Chijioke Victor, Promise Odimba, Ugbor Ifeanyi and Prince Anthony. They were arraigned on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 on separate one-count charge, bordering on impersonation and fraud, before the same court and they all pleaded “guilty”.
They were convicted by Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, on Thursday, September 26, 2019, to one year imprisonment each, with an option of fine of Five hundred thousand naira (N500,000.00).
In view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel, Usman Shehu, informed the court of the plea bargain agreements entered and executed by the prosecution and the defence. The matter was thereafter adjourned to September 26, 2019, for conviction and sentence while the convicts were remanded in Afokang prison, Calabar.
Delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice Amobeda convicted all the defendants and sentenced each to one year imprisonment, with the option of N500,000 fine. He ordered that the convict “shall forfeit all the items recovered during arrest.” The items are; 6 laptops, 12 sophisticated mobile phones, 1 International Passport, 4 Airtel Sim Packs, 3 MTN Sim Packs, 2 Glo Sim Packs,1 Smile Router and 2 Modems.
The convicts ran into trouble on September 2, 2019, when operatives of Uyo Zonal Office of the EFCC arrested them in a two bedroom apartment, located on 54 Church Road, off Calabar Itu Express Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, following an intelligence report on their nefarious activities in the town.
During interogation, the suspects said the apartment which served as their home and office, was rented by the kingpin, Ebesike, for the purpose of training facebook hackers. Confessing to the crime, Ebesike who claimed to be a musician with the stage name ‘Lawre Blue’, gave a detailed account of how they carried out their operations on Facebook.
“I am into internet fraud. Part of how I operate is, I edit Facebook accounts, go to google and search for pictures of United State military personnel. I download some of these pictures and put them on the newly created facebook accounts. After doing that, I target foreigners, mostly old white women who are in need of men. I stay online all day trying to befriend them. After convincing them, I will make them apply for my leave so that I can see them”, Ebesike confessed.