Rita Enemuru, Reporting
THE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Cross River State Command, has dismantled an alleged transnational criminal syndicate operating under the guise of a multi-level marketing business in Calabar, rescuing 42 people during an intelligence-led operation.
The State Commandant, CC Okarazu Chima Eke, disclosed this on Tuesday while parading the rescued victims and arrested members of the syndicate before journalists at the State Command Headquarters, Murtala Mohammed Highway, Calabar.
Eke explained that the operation was conducted between Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15, following intelligence gathered by the command’s Intelligence Department. According to him, operatives raided a five-bedroom facility allegedly being used by the syndicate as an indoctrination and holding centre within the Calabar metropolis.
He said 42 people, aged between 22 and 36, were found at the facility. The commandant added that operatives later tracked and arrested the alleged prime cell leader, identified as Timothy Bayi, an indigene of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
Eke said the syndicate allegedly targeted young people by advertising supposed employment opportunities in countries including South Africa, Malaysia and Côte d’Ivoire . He explained that prospective victims were allegedly brought to Calabar after being promised overseas employment and subsequently asked to pay millions of naira into designated accounts purportedly for visa and international documentation.
“The level of deceit employed by this syndicate is alarming,” CC Okarazu Chima Eke said.
According to the commandant, after payments were made, the promised foreign employment was allegedly abandoned, while victims were kept at the facility and introduced to what he described as an illegal pyramid-style marketing arrangement. He said victims were allegedly required to recruit at least two other people in an attempt to recover money they had paid, while the supposed products, described as “biodics and jewellery”, were not physically seen by the victims interviewed by the command.
Eke said the operation had international dimensions, noting that those rescued included 28 Nigerian males, six Nigerian females, five Cameroonian nationals and three Beninese nationals . He added that the eight foreign nationals were allegedly found without valid international travel documents and that the command was working with the Nigeria Immigration Service to establish their identities and immigration status.
The commandant disclosed that Bayi had mentioned an alleged affiliation with a major service compliance and logistics company headquartered in Lagos, stressing that the NSCDC was still investigating the claim.
“We are currently verifying the nature and extent of this claim,” the Commandant said.
He said the command would pursue the investigation to establish the identities of other individuals allegedly connected to the network, regardless of how high or low they might be in the organisation.
The NSCDC boss warned job seekers and parents against unverified foreign employment offers, get-rich-quick schemes and arrangements requiring substantial payments before purported recruitment or travel.
“There is no shortcut to wealth,” he warned.
He said the NSCDC was collaborating with relevant security and law-enforcement agencies and would ensure that suspects were prosecuted before a competent court after the completion of investigations.
One of the suspects, Bayi, however, denied that the company he claimed to represent promised foreign employment. He said a friend introduced him to the business, which he had been involved in for about two years.
During an interview with the prime leader of the syndicate, Timothy Bayi claimed that, “The company does not promise anybody to travel abroad. The company doesn’t issue a travel document or promise any job abroad.”
Bayi said the business, as he understood it, involved online product marketing and the payment of commissions, adding that the recruitment of people for overseas employment was contrary to the company’s stated policy.
A rescued victim, Ogama, from Benue State, gave a different account, saying he was lured to Calabar after a friend offered him a job in the United Kingdom. He said he underwent an online interview through WhatsApp and was subsequently informed that he had passed the interview. His family, he added, raised about N1m to enable him to process the purported travel documents.
Ogama said, “After paying the money, they took us to the ground and made me understand that I was no more travelling to the UK.” He said he remained at the facility because he had no money to return home after the money provided by his relatives had been paid.
Another victim, Hamlet Ndiame, a Cameroonian, said a friend introduced him to the business and that he attended training sessions after being told it was a network-marketing venture. Ndiame said his own assessment was that the business might exist, but alleged that the methods used by some people to recruit participants differed from what was presented initially.
“The business is real, but the way they are doing it to bring people into the business is not the way they promised initially,” Hamlet Ndiame stated.
He said he researched the organisation online and found information about it, but remained concerned about the recruitment methods allegedly used to attract prospective participants. Ndiame identified the company he was referring to as QNET, while stressing that his concerns were about the manner in which people were allegedly recruited rather than solely about the existence of the business.
The NSCDC said investigations were continuing to determine the respective roles of those in custody and establish whether other individuals or organisations were involved in the alleged scheme.
