Eighteen foreigners who allegedly entered the country illegally to engage in cybercrime have been put before the Wa Circuit Court.
The accused, believed to be Nigerians, were arrested last Saturday after they had duped unsuspecting people of various sums of money.
The accused persons are facing three counts of obtaining electronic medium falsely, possession of illegal devices and failing to comply with the imposition of a ban on travel into the country.
They are Emmanuel Ogunoyibo, 24; Emmanuel Ukoh, 21; Chigozirim Adindo, 24; Rex Chigozie, 23; Anthony Chukwuma, 25, and Chukwu Chinonso, 22.
Others are Simon Daniel Tochukwu, 23; Dickson, 29; Uwazie Christogonus, 22; Joshua Chigozie, 21; Anthony Chukwuma, 28, and Bright Chiadighikaobi, 35.
The rest are Henry I Dey With You, 25; Wisdom Ejmadu, 25; Ekene Okoro, 26; Victor Ejike, 26; Peter Emeka, 20, and Abana Udochukwu, 25.
Their pleas were not taken and they were remanded in police custody to reappear today.
Prosecution case
According to the prosecutor, Superintendent Mr R.A. Boateng, the 18 Nigerians claimed they entered the country somewhere in April this year through unapproved routes at the time the borders had been closed due to the COVID -19 pandemic.
He said upon their entry, they travelled to Wa where they rented two houses at Dobile, a suburb of Wa, from where they operated their cybercrime activities.
Upon intelligence gathered, a team of security personnel swooped on the two houses in the early hours of Saturday to arrest them.
During the search conducted in their rooms, the police retrieved items including 22 laptop computers and their accessories, 11 mobile phones and a camera which were believed to be used to commit the crime.
