The Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, has sentenced one Aliu Tijani to one year imprisonment for internet fraud.

Tijani was sentenced to jail by Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe on Tuesday, after he pleaded guilty to a one-count amended charge proffered against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Head, Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement made available to The Star on Tuesday, stated that the convict had earlier pleaded not guilty when he was first arraigned in December 2021 for the offences, but made a turnaround seeking for a plea bargain, thus necessitating his re-arraignment on an amended charge.

In the amended charge, the defendant was charged with the offence of possession of fraudulent documents containing false pretence, which he used to perpetrate love scam on the internet.

The prosecuting counsel, C.M. Uzodinma, later informed the court of the plea bargain agreement between both parties.

Giving a review of the facts, Uzodinma told the court that the defendant was arrested sometime in September 2021 by the operatives of the EFCC following actionable intelligence.

READ ALSO: BDC operator bags 5 years imprisonment over N22m fraud

“He was interrogated, and he volunteered his statement,” she said, adding that the iPhone 12 Pro Max recovered from him was analysed and fraudulent documents printed out from it.

The EFCC counsel also tendered in evidence the statement of the defendant and fraudulent documents printed from the defendant’s iPhone.

Ruling, Justice Abike-Fadipe sentenced Tijani to one year imprisonment with an option of N500,000 and 40 hours of community service.

The iPhone and $1,500 recovered from him were also ordered forfeited to the Federal Government.

The defendant was also ordered to sign an undertaking with the EFCC upon his release never to engage in economic and financial crimes.

The Star