(UPDATE) CYBERCRIME: COURT GRANTS N1BILLION BAIL TO 109 ALLEGED FOREIGN HACKERS

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On Friday, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted bail to 109 suspected foreign hackers who tried to scam Nigerians out of a total of N1 billion.

The accused, who had previously been placed under detention in jail custody, were additionally ordered by Trial Justice Ekerete Akpan to produce five sureties, each of whom had N200 million.

The court ruled that in addition to providing an affidavit of means, the sureties had to be the owners of properties in the Abuja metropolitan area that were valued at at least N200 million.

According to the ruling, the Deputy Chief Registrar of the high court must receive the title deeds of the properties and confirm each surety’s residential address.

More so, the court ordered all the defendants to surrender their international passports and not travel out of the country until the conclusion of their trial.

It ordered both the defendants and their sureties to submit two of their recent passport photographs, stressing that they must remain in custody, pending the fulfilment of all the bail conditions.

Whereas the male defendants were remanded in Kuje prison, the court held that the female defendants should be kept at Keffi prison in Nasarawa state.

The case was subsequently adjourned till February 27, 2025, for trial.

The defendants, who were identified as citizens of China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, Malaysia and Myanmar, are facing a six-count charge that was entered against them by the Cybercrime Unit of the Nigeria Police Force.

They had through their team of lawyers led by Dr. Ogwu Onoja, SAN, and Eric Oba, prayed the court to release them on bail, pending the hearing and determination of the charge against them.

The defendants, who said they were ready to be tried, assured that they would not escape from the country.

On his part, the prosecution counsel, Mr. A. A. Egwu, said he would leave the issue to the discretion of the court.

Egwu, however, urged the court to impose conditions that would ensure the attendance of the defendants at their trial.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charge that was translated to them in their various languages, through interpreters.

It will be recalled that five Brazilians- Lucas Costa Da Silver, Renan Ricardo Souza Rocha, Nelson Rocha Cardoso Neto, Rhuan Filippe Albuqverque Le Lonnes, and Aguiar Rodrigues Djeanne- who were listed as defendants in the charge, earlier expressed their desire to be prosecuted separately.

Police told the court that the defendants were arrested at a building situated at plot 1906, Cadestral Zone 807, Katampe District of Abuja, where they were said to be engaging in cybercrime.

Aside from cybercrime, the defendants were also charged for money laundering and an allegation that they were residing in Nigeria, illegally.

In the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/599/2024, police, alleged that the defendants conspired among themselves “to commit an offence, to wit; cybercrime and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 27 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As Amended, 2024).”

They were also alleged to have “knowingly access a computer and network and input, alter, delete of suppress data resulting in inauthentic data with the intention that such inauthentic data will be considered or acted upon as If they were authentic or genuine and you thereby commit an offence contrary to and punishable under section 13 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As Amended, 2024).”

Police told the court that the 109 defendants, “knowingly and without authority, caused loss of property to persons in Nigeria and outside Nigeria,” when they caused the inputting and suppression of data by deceiving people to believe that an unregistered gambling platforms they were marketing, were authentic.

It alleged that the deceptive action of the defendants was for them to confer economic benefits on themselves, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under section 14 (1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As Amended, 2024).

More so, the prosecution alleged that the defendants, with intent to defraud, “did promote via electronic Messages on the internet, a fraudulent and unregistered gambling platform, materially misrepresenting facts about the said fraudulent gambling platform upon which reliance, persons in Nigeria and outside Nigeria suffered enormous economic losses and you thereby commit an offence contrary to and punishable under section 14 (2) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As Amended, 2024).”

They were also alleged to have removed from Nigeria, “proceeds generated from operating a fraudulent and unregistered gambling platforms, namely: 9f.com, c2.top, 8pg.top and you thereby commit Money Laundering, contrary to and punishable under section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

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