Timothy Oluwabukola and Anthony Odemerho, students from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Resign Regal Academy, respectively, have been charged with alleged cyber fraud.
The two individuals are accused of hacking into the computer systems of MTN Nigeria Communication Plc and stealing airtime and data worth N1.9 billion.
The Police Special Fraud Unit brought the charges against Oluwabukola and Odemerho at the Federal High Court in Lagos State on Tuesday. They face four counts, including conspiracy, unauthorized access to MTN’s Application Programming Interface, and unlawful conversion.
According to the police prosecution counsel, Justine Enang, the defendants committed the offenses between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states, in collaboration with other individuals who are currently at large. Enang stated that they accessed the telco’s Application Programming Interface, extracting data used to defraud MTN of N1.9 billion.
The prosecution argued that the offenses violated Sections 27(1)(b); 6(2) and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, and are punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act. Additionally, the offenses contravened Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. Following their pleas, the prosecutor requested a trial date and asked the court to remand the defendants in custody until the case is resolved.
The defense lawyers notified the court that they had filed bail applications for their clients and had served the prosecutor with the documents. The prosecutor confirmed receipt of the applications during the proceedings and requested a short adjournment to review and respond to them.
Justice Akintayo Aluko adjourned the case to August 5, 2024, for the hearing of the bail applications.
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