The Airport Police Command in Lagos has arrested a suspected international romance fraudster accused of swindling victims in the United States of more than one billion naira.
In a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Airport Police Command, Lagos, ASP Mohammed Adeol, the suspect, 20-year-old Essien Emmanuel Akpama, was intercepted on January 5 while attempting to board an outbound flight from Lagos, following months of intelligence-led surveillance by the Command’s Anti-Fraud Unit.
He says, investigators believe he was trying to flee the country after allegedly running a series of high-value online scams.
According to police findings, Akpama relocated from Calabar to Lagos in early 2024, where he allegedly coordinated multiple romance and celebrity-style scams targeting elderly victims abroad.
In one case, a 47-year-old woman in the United States was reportedly deceived into transferring one million dollars under the guise of buying property in Florida for an orphanage.
The transaction was said to have been routed through a cryptocurrency platform known as BullRun 2.0.
Police also allege that another victim, a 70-year-old American woman, was defrauded of over 25 million naira through the purchase of gift cards and high-end electronic devices shipped to Nigeria at the suspect’s instruction.
Investigators say Akpama posed online as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon working with the United Nations, claiming the gadgets were needed for secure communications.
Several luxury devices recovered during the arrest are now part of the evidence, as authorities continue to trace the full scope of the fraud network.
Reacting to the arrest, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Airport Police Command, CP Ogunbode Olufunke, reaffirmed the Command’s determination to block Nigerian airports from being used as escape routes for transnational criminals, stressing that intelligence-driven operations will remain a key strategy.
The suspect has since been handed over to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit for further investigation and is expected to be charged to court at the conclusion of the probe.
Reporting By Nosa Aituamen