The Lagos State Police Command has dealt a major blow to cybercrime with the discovery and dismantling of an illegal internet fraud training facility, dubbed a “Yahoo School,” in the Iju area of Lagos.
The operation, confirmed in a statement by the command’s spokesperson, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, on Tuesday, resulted in the arrest of 10 suspects, including four alleged masterminds and six trainees.
According to Hundeyin, the raid targeted a notorious setup where cyber fraud was being taught as a trade.
“During the successful operations, police detectives apprehended four yahoo experts, aged 22, 23, 25, and 26, who were running the illicit school,” he said.
The arrested experts, identified as the ringleaders, were allegedly grooming a younger group of trainees, aged between 12 and 26, in the art of internet scams and related criminal activities.
Preliminary investigations have uncovered a chilling recruitment pipeline. “The principal suspects of the facility recruited their trainees from Anambra State, engaged them to commit internet fraud, and confiscated the proceeds of their crimes,” Hundeyin revealed.
All 10 suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Yaba for further discreet investigation and eventual prosecution.
The police are also intensifying efforts to track down additional accomplices, including sponsors and the facility’s owner, who remain at large. “Efforts are ongoing to apprehend other accomplices,” Hundeyin noted, signaling a broader crackdown on the network behind this “Yahoo School.”
