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The Nigeria Police Force has uncovered a cyber-enabled telecommunications fraud valued at more than ₦7.7 billion and arrested six suspects, police said.
The force’s spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, on Wednesday said the fraud was discovered by the Nigeria Police Force’s National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) in response to a petition from a Nigerian telecom company that reported questionable activity in its billing and payment systems.
“The syndicate was responsible for the illegal diversion of a telecommunications company’s airtime and data resources, resulting in an estimated financial loss of over ₦7.7 billion,” Hundeyin said.
He said investigations showed that login details belonging to internal staff had been compromised, allowing unauthorised access to the company’s core systems and the illegal diversion of airtime and data resources.
“The breakthrough followed a petition by a Nigerian telecommunications company, which reported suspicious and unauthorised activities within its billing and payments infrastructure,” Hundeyin said.
“Investigations revealed that internal staff login credentials had been compromised, granting threat actors unlawful access to core systems.”
After weeks of investigation, police conducted coordinated operations in Kano and Katsina States in October 2025, followed by a follow-up arrest in the Federal Capital Territory.
Six suspects were arrested: Ahmad Bala, Karibu Mohammed Shehu, Umar Habib, Obinna Ananaba, Ibrahim Shehu and Masa’ud Sa’ad.
Recovered items during the arrest include two residential houses in Kano, two mini-plazas, GSM and laptop retail outlets containing over 400 laptops, 1,000 mobile phones, and a Toyota RAV4 vehicle – all proceeds of the crime, Hundeyin noted.
“Substantial sums of money traced to the suspects’ accounts were also recovered.”
He revealed that after the investigation was finished, the suspects would face charges in court.
