Newsie Events:–
The Nigerian Police Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi, Lagos State, has charged Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola and Anthony Imonina Odemerho with hacking into MTN Nigeria’s systems and stealing N1.9 billion worth of airtime and data.
Oluwabukola, from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, and Odemerho, from Resign Regal Academy in Benin City, faced arraignment before Justice Akintayo Aluko.
The charges against them include conspiracy, unauthorized access to MTN’s Application Programming Interface (API), and unlawful conversion.
The prosecution alleges that the defendants manipulated MTN’s systems to convert stolen airtime into data.
The accused, who have pleaded not guilty, are reported to have committed these offenses between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states.
Prosecution counsel Justine Enang asserted that the defendants accessed MTN’s API and fraudulently used the stolen data, actions that violate the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The prosecution has requested a trial date and asked for the defendants to be remanded in Nigerian Correctional Services custody. The defense has filed for bail applications.
Justice Aluko has scheduled a hearing for the bail applications on August 5.
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