The Nigeria Police Force (NPF), through its National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), has uncovered and dismantled a sophisticated cyber-enabled fraud syndicate accused of illegally diverting a telecommunication company’s airtime and data resources, with losses estimated at over N7.7 billion.
The police said the breakthrough followed a petition from a Nigerian telecommunication company, which reported suspicious and unauthorised activities within its billing and payment infrastructure.
Investigations revealed that the syndicate compromised internal staff login credentials, enabling the suspects to gain unlawful access to the company’s core systems and manipulate airtime and data resources for financial gain.
After weeks of intelligence gathering and planning, coordinated enforcement operations were carried out in October 2025 across Kano and Kastina states, with a follow-up arrest later effected in the Federal Capital territory, Abuja.
The operations led to the arrest of six suspects identified as Ahmad Bala, Karibu Mohammed Shehu, Umar Habib, Obinna Ananaba, Ibrahim Shehu, and Masa’ud Sa’ad.
According to the police, the items recovered from the suspects include two residential houses in Kano, two mini-plazas, GSM and laptop retail outlets containing over 400 laptops, 1,000 mobile and a Toyota RAV4 vehicle. The assets were said to be proceeds of the alleged crime.
In addition, substantial sums of money traced to the suspects’ bank accounts were recovered during the investigation
The police said that the suspects would be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigations, reaffirming the commitment of the NPF-NCCC to combating cybercrime and protecting Nigeria’s digital and financial infrastructure.
