After 12 months of legal battle, Nigeria’s anti-graft police, the EFCC has eventually whisked a notorious Internet fraudster, Emmanuel Ekhator to the United States to face prosecution for defrauding over 80 American law firms of funds in excess of $32 million.
iReports-ng gathered that Ekhator was flown out of Nigeria under the custody of a senior EFCC operative on Wednesday night aboard a Delta airline flight to Atlanta from where they proceeded to Pennsylvania where they eventually appeared before a district court which is set to begin the trial of Ekhator on Thursday.
Back in Nigeria,the EFCC has vowed that the country will no longer be a safe place for Nigerian fugitive criminals fleeing from law enforcement agents in other countries.
Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mrs. Farida Waziri who disclosed this while briefing some officers of the Commission on the successful handover of the Nigerian fugitive, Ekhator to a court in the United States on Thursday said the suspect is the third Nigerian fugitive to be handed over to the US authorities by the EFCC while two others are presently awaiting extradition to the U.S
While George Ubeozor was extradited in 2008, Sunday Adebisi Adegbesan was handed over in 2009 both to the authorities in New York . The Latest to suffer the same fate, Ehkator was indicted in the U.S. District court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on November 3, 2010 over a $32 million internet collections scam.
The suspect was arrested in Benin City , Edo State in August 2010 by EFCC operatives following top level exchange of information between U.S. Law enforcement agents and the EFCC over the activities of a trans-border ring of internet scammers headed by Ekhator.
The extradition process filed through the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, was eventually approved by a federal high court in Lagos on July 26th, 2011.
The suspect was however flown to the U.S. on Wednesday and handed over to a District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Thursday by an officer of the EFCC.
Speaking on the extradition on Friday, Waziri tasked operatives working on other pending similar cases to intensify their efforts.
“With the latest extradition in addition to the two earlier done, and the two others pending, the message should be clear to anyone who travels abroad to commit crime and run back home to hide that Nigeria is no longer safe for them because, we will get them and hand them over to face the law.
“We will continue to do our best in this regard and with the continued support of the Attorney General of the Federation, we will surely make Nigeria unsafe for those fleeing from the long arms of the law in other jurisdictions because this country should never be a safe place for fugitive criminals”.
So if u are so honest and intelligent, why go and work in the UK I am even guessing u used forged or worked papers to get to the UK..Beef.. How many white men have been convicted for the slave trade era.. Most of the rich white families we have today made their money during that era and the money has been in their generation for centuries so let’s face it! Crime is not the way forward! But if he has brains he should try not to get caught! Fraud is an english word afterall it did not originate from africa
Listen mate, i went to School in Benin in the 80,s same class as me for 4 yrs, we played football together, i am in Uk working hard and earning a honest days pay, we are all graduates, this ididot is a disgrace , from a good family, he has been doing this shit, for a while, his time is up hope he stays locked up for 30yrs ,, thank you ,,,, everyday for the theif one day for the owner
See, this guy ruined dozens of peoples’ lives with his scams, and he’s been caught. I fail to see the downside of this (and no, I don’t have anything against Nigerians).
WAT A BRAIN IF HE CLD BE DIS SMART THEN NIGERIANS HAS GOT BRAINS BUT TO THINK OF IT DIS WHITE MEN ARE GREEDY IS NOT WHY DO THEY JST FALL CHEAPLY?PLS LEAVE DIS BRAINS ALONE OR THE GOVERNMENT SHLD PUT DIS BRAINS TO PROPER USE INSTEAD OF ALL DIS OUR OLD POLITICIANS WHO SHLD HV RETIRED
whoa!
Efcc are future killer. By the time this country will undestand what they are doing to thier youth,it will be late by then very body should have been convicted through efcc plea bargin.let the abolish the commission because they only want to show themselve to united nation for the fund they recieved from them. Shame to efcc even husband and wife case , 2,000 naira case they handle it. Paul okoli of efcc which i knew very well as a crimal is even an officer shame.
Nigeria is a foolish country,has there ever been a case were americans were tried under the nigerian judicial system?worse still they have been cases were the nigerians themselves have sold out their own just to get approval from those people who where even responsible for the 911 suicide attacks.nigerians are fools
Misplaced priorities…EFCC should be pursuing the BIG ones at house of Rep and Senate, even those within the EFCC should be investigated first before looking at these small boys trying the survive…If not for bad governance, why would a person with an MBA degree be involved in shaddy deals…. It is a shame that we like to make noise over nothing…. If you thing we Nigerians are scammers, I suggest you visit this link for the real scammers: http://www.stopfraud.gov/news.html
We just like to make noise that all..