Police Parade Five Fake COVID-19 Certificate Racketeers

The Nigeria Police, Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos Command yesterday arrested and paraded five suspected fake COVID-19 certificate racketeers at the airport, just as two others escaped.

The police alleged that the suspects, Achibong Idonrenyin, Moses Samuel, Popoola Adewala, Wale Aderele and Abdulmalik Ibrahim, major in selling fake COVID-19 certificates to unsuspecting travellers within the international wing of the airport.

They identified the suspects at large as Shehu Imam and Adeola Darlington, who work with Sky Blue Services limited, a cleaning service firm at the airport.

Briefing journalists yesterday in his office at the airport, the Airport Command Commissioner, Mr. Bature Umar, said the incident occurred on February 19, 2021, at the airport, where a British Airways passenger, Michael Osagbogun, was defrauded of the sum of N50, 000 for COVID-19 test.

According to the police commissioner, one of the suspects had approached Osagbogun promising to produce a COVID-19 test certificate for him.

Two of the suspects, Popoola Adewale and Adeola Dalington, who knew the airport environment well due to the nature of their jobs at the airport, allegedly took the victim to one of the toilet facilities at the airport where the sum of N50, 000 was obtained from him under the pretext of producing a valid COVID-19 negative certificate for the victim.

Umar explained that one of the suspects took the victim to DAT Cybercafé at No. 4, Oriyomi Street, Ikeja, where a fake COVID-19 certificate was eventually procured for him.

But, despite the payment of the money, he said the victim, who was on his way to London, United Kingdom, was denied boarding by the officials of the airline based on the fake COVID-19 certificate he presented at the counters.