Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have arrested six suspects for allegedly hacking into a telecommunication company in Nigeria to divert airtime and mobile data worth N7.7 billion.
A statement on Wednesday by Benjamin Hundeyin, the force spokesperson, said the suspects allegedly gained unlawful access to the core systems of the telecommunication company. The suspects are Ahmad Bala, Karibu Mohammed Shehu, Umar Habib, Obinna Ananaba, Ibrahim Shehu, and Masa’ud Sa’ad.
The force spokesperson said a “substantial” amount of money was traced to the suspects’ bank accounts.
“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,” the statement reads. “The breakthrough followed a petition by a Nigerian telecommunications company, which reported suspicious and unauthorised activities within its billing and payments infrastructure.
“Investigations revealed that internal staff login credentials had been compromised, granting threat actors unlawful access to core systems.
“The suspects would be charged in court on the completion of the investigation. “Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM, has commended the officers involved in the investigation for their professionalism.”
