The Police Particular Fraud Unit has arraigned college students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, and Resign Regal Academy, Timothy Oluwabukola and Anthony Odemerho, for allegedly hacking MTN Nigeria Communication Plc’s computer systems and stealing airtime and knowledge valued at N1.9bn.
Oluwabukola and Odemerho who had been arraigned earlier than the Federal Excessive Court docket in Lagos on Tuesday are going through 4 counts bordering on conspiracy, unauthorised entry into the corporate’s web-based platform referred to as Utility Programming Interface and illegal conversion, most popular towards them by the police.
The police prosecution counsel, Justine Enang, informed the courtroom that the defendants dedicated the alleged offences with others now at massive.
Enang informed the courtroom that Oluwabukola and Odemerho who’re stated to be college students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta, Ogun State, and Resign Regal Academy in Benin Metropolis, Edo State, respectively, dedicated the offences someday between January and April 2024, in Lagos and Edo states.
He stated the defendants conspired and accessed the telco’s Utility Programming Interface and obtained knowledge from the stated utility, which they used to defraud MTN to the tune of N1.9bn.
In response to the prosecutor the offences dedicated contravened Sections 27(1)(b); 6(2) and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, and so on) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, however punishable underneath Part 8(2) of the identical Act.
He added that the offences additionally contravened Part 18(2)(b) of the Cash Laundering (Prevention And Prohibition) Act, 2022, punishable underneath Part 18(3) of the identical Act.
Nevertheless, the defendants pleaded not responsible to the fees towards them.
Following their not-guilty plea, the prosecutor requested the courtroom for a trial date and urged the courtroom to remand them within the custody of a correctional centre until the willpower of the cost.
However the defence legal professionals knowledgeable the courtroom that they’d filed their purchasers’ bail purposes and the identical had been served on the prosecutor.
The prosecutor confirmed being served with the purposes however informed the courtroom that he was served whereas the proceedings had been on.
He requested the courtroom for a brief date to allow him to check the purposes and reply to them accordingly.
Consequently, Justice Akintayo Aluko adjourned the case until August 5, 2024, for listening to of the defendants’ bail purposes.