A member of a syndicate, Festus Anyaere, has been arrested for allegedly conniving with seven others at large to defraud a trader, Temitope Ibitoye, of N10m.
It was gathered that the 33-year-old suspect had sometime in February 2012 approached Ibitoye in the Ebute Ero Market, parading himself as an importer of stoves and other household items.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Anyaere, had introduced himself as Ekene to the woman and took her and her husband, Oluwole, to an estate in the Iyana Ipaja area of the state, where he and his accomplices reportedly used as an office.
The woman identified the fleeing members of the cartel as Dr. Smith, Alhaji, Engineer Michael, Emeka, Chief Fayemi, Frank and Olarewaju.
Olarewaju was said to have acted as the director of the purported company when Ibitoye and her husband, Oluwole, visited the office.
Imo-born Anyaere had reportedly told the victim that they were expecting a container of stoves valued at N10m.
Ibitoye said she paid the sum in cash within two months. She added that it dawned on her that she had been defrauded when she and her husband got to the office to clear the goods, but met it locked.
She said, “He (Anyaere) identified himself as Ekene and he took my husband and I to an office in Iyana Ipaja, where we met other seven people, including a foreigner (Smith). The N10m was paid in cash for two months.
“We were asked to come and collect the market (stoves) at the office, but they were not there. We visited the office several times to get our money back to no avail.”
Our correspondent was told that the victim’s husband, Oluwole, was passing by around the Idumota area of the state on May 18, 2015– three years after the alleged fraud – when he saw Anyaere negotiating with another trader, Yakubu Arinola.
Oluwole reportedly raised the alarm, leading to the suspect’s arrest by men from the Ebute Ero Police Station.
Arinola said Anyaere was discussing a business deal with him when he was caught.
He said, “Festus (Anyaere) came to me and said he could be supplying me goods that I sell. During our conversation, Ibitoye accosted him and raised the alarm.”
The police said the suspect had confessed to the crime, claiming that Olarewaju introduced him to “the business.”
Anyaere was subsequently brought by a police prosecutor, ASP Chidi Okoye, before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court on two counts bordering on fraud and stealing.
The charges read in part, “That you, Festus Anyaere, and others now at large, sometime in 2012, at an estate in Iyana Ipaja, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire to commit felony to wit; fraud and stealing.”
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The presiding magistrate, A.O. Awogboro, admitted him to bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in like sum.
The case was adjourned till July 27, 2015.
Punch
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