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Justice Justice D. I. Dipeolu and Justice A. O. Faji
of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos has convicted and sentenced
six Chinese to one year imprisonment each for cyber-terrorism and internet
fraud.
The convicts are: JIA You (a.k.a A. You), Wang Zheng
Feng (a.k.a.Feng), Liu San Hua, Chen Wen yuan, LIU BEIXING, and WEN ZONG
XU (a.k.a.LI LONG).
They are among the syndicate of 792 alleged
cryptocurrency investment and romance fraud suspects arrested on December 19,
2024 in Lagos during a sting operation tagged “Eagle Flush Operation” conducted
by EFCC operatives.
They were subsequently arraigned on separate count
charges of cyber- terrorism and internet fraud in February, 2025 by the Lagos
Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,
EFCC.
One of the charge reads: “That you LUO JIA YOU (a.k.a
A. YOU) sometimes in December 2024 at Lagos, Nigeria within the jurisdiction of
this Honourable Court, willfully caused to be accessed, computer systems used
for the purpose of destabilizing and destroying the economy and social
structure of Nigeria and you hereby committed an offence contrary to and
punishable under Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.)
Act, 2015 (as Amended, 2024) and Section 2(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention and
Prohibition Act, 2022".
They initially pleaded “not guilty” to the charges
when they were read to them.
However, during the sitting on Monday, June 23, 2025,
they changed their “not guilty plea” to “guilty.”
In view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel,
Babatunde Sonoiki, U. S. Kyari and B. M. Isah, respectively, prayed the court
to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Consequently, court convicted and sentenced each of
the defendants to one year imprisonment starting from the date of arrest on
December 10, 2025, with a fine in the sum of N1,000,000 (One Million
Naira (N1,000,000.00) each.
The judge further ordered that upon completion of
their prison sentence, the Comptroller General of Immigration should ensure
that they are repatriated to their country of origin within seven days.
The mobile phones, computers, laptops and routers
seized from them at the time of arrest were ordered forfeited to the Federal
Government of Nigeria.
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