Two middle-aged men land in police net, one for operating a passport and visa racket and the other for duping home seekers
By Ernest Omoarelojie
On 27 March 2006, John Ehidiamhen and Wilson Odion, both from Edo State, became convinced that they had been swindled. They sent a joint petition to the Special Fraud Unit, Milverton Road, Ikoyi. Their grouse is that they paid N4,705,000 (four million, seven hundred and five thousand naira) to one Kennedy Egbohan, alias AB, to help them procure visas to Italy. Egbohan was said to have procured visas for the duo, with which they set off for Italy via Albania. But on arrival at the Eastern Europe country, immigration authorities told them that they had entered the country with fake visas. Amidst protest that the visas were genuine, the Albanian immigration authorities placed them on the next available flight to Dubai in United Arab Emirates, enroute Nigeria.
In the course of investigating their claims, the police raided Egbohan’s home and found out that he runs a syndicate that specialises in making fake passports and visas for individuals desperate to get out of the country. Among others, the police found 11 international passports belonging to other Nigerians Egbohan may have swindled into parting with huge sums of money. The search also revealed that Egbohan has two different passports bearing his name, two wooden stamps with inscription, De-Marths Invent Planner and Cema World Venture. In addition, the search yielded a roll of visa foil, a machine for faking visas and passports and two fake account statements belonging to Oceanic Bank and United Bank for Africa respectively.
Though the police told this medium that Egbohan accepted ownership of the items, he however denied same when our reporter sought to know why he is involved in faking visas and passports. Rather, he claimed that all the passports found in his possession belonged to his relatives, who for the reason that he is a returnee from Europe wanted him to help them procure visas. Egbohan could not explain how he became the owner of two passports or how related he is to names that cut across at least three geo-political zones, as indicated in the passports found in his residence. The police also paraded Yinka Sokoya, 42, an estate agent, land speculator and director of Sokoya & Partners, located at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos. Sokoya, police said, collected N5 million from an unidentified man for a lease on a 370-square metre space on the First Floor of a property situated at 77 Ojuelegba Road, Surulere, Lagos. As part-payment of the property valued at N6,663,000 (six million, six hundred and sixty-three thousand naira) he received a Zenith Bank cheque of N5million.
But soon, the unidentified man could neither trace the complainant nor take possession of the property. To his dismay, Sokoya, he was told, had been arrested by the Special Fraud Unit, a reason for which he promptly petitioned the Commissioner of Police for help. The police confronted Sokoya with the allegation and he admitted that indeed, he is the same person. He pleaded for time to pay back the money.
Perhaps by coincidence, the Commissioner of Police, SFU, received a petition from one Opeyemi Adegbonmire, an agent of Maevis Nigeria Ltd. Dated 29 March, Adegbonmire alleged that the same Sokoya fraudulently collected the sum of N15,250,000 (Fifteen million, two hundred and fifty thousand naira) from her with a view to helping her secure a 5-bedroom detachable house at Cappa Estate, Maryland, Lagos. Adegbonmire in her petition disclosed that she issued a Zenith Bank draft of N15.25 million in Sokoya’s favour. However, when she attempted to take delivery of the property, she found to her chagrin that another tenant, Virgin Atlantic, was already occupying same.
When she challenged Shokoya on why he would lease the same property she paid for to another person, the estate agent issued her a Union Bank plc cheque, dated 21 February, covering the entire N15 million. But when she presented the cheque at the bank, she found out that it was a dud cheque. Convinced that she’d been conned, she made straight to the police who promptly arrested Shokoya. He confessed that he actually collected the money from Adegbonmire. A search of his house yielded a paltry N2 million.At the Milverton office of the SFU, Shokoya, who has since been arrested, refused to answer questions from our correspondent. The police however assured that he would be prosecuted as soon as investigations have been concluded.
Mr Olayinka Balogun, Commissioner of Police, SFU, said the cases involving Egbohan and Shokoya have once more, provided opportunity for the public to get wiser about fake visa syndicates and dubious agents. Balogun advised Nigerians to do a background check on agents and admonished the public to stop looking for visas through individuals because only Embassies and High Commissions issue same.
Balogun disclosed that besides issuing fake visas to unsuspecting individuals, the syndicates also use non-existent companies to create the impression that those travelling with the documents have whatever it takes to live in the countries they are visiting. The fake bank accounts, he explained, are also meant to hoodwink embassy officials that the traveller is rich enough not to become a burden on the country he is travelling to.
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