The Enugu State Police Command has arrested and arraigned three suspects, including a banker, for allegedly stealing N4 million from an abroad-based bank customer, Mba Ndukwe, by forging his account details.

The command spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, in a statement on Friday, identified the suspects as Ndulaka Okwudili, 26; a commercial bank former staff, Ifeanyi Nnamani; and Philip Ozogwu, 44.

He said the suspects fruaulently forged the bank identity of Mr Ndukwe, an Australia-based Nigerian, to withdraw N4 million from his account.

Mr Ndukwe said operatives of the Central Police Station (CPS) arrested the suspects after the commercial bank management alerted the police officers of the fraudulent activities on the victim’s account.

“Further investigation by police detectives from the Command’s State Criminal Investigation Department’s Crack Squad (D16) revealed that Ndulaka Okwudili confessed to the crime.

“According to his confession, in October 2023, at Nowas Junction in Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, he found a bag containing various personal items, including SIM cards from different telecommunications networks.

“In January 2024, he inserted an Airtel SIM card found in the bag into his phone and received a large credit alert, leading him and others at large to begin withdrawing funds from the victim’s account using the USSD banking code,” Mr Ndukwe said.

The police spokesperson said Mr Okwudili faced difficulties accessing the account in September 2024 and visited the said bank branch, where he allegedly conspired with the bank staff, Mr Nnamani, with 17 years of service, who told him that the account was on “Post No Debit” status.

“The bank employee asked the first suspect to obtain a court affidavit and modify his National Identification Number (NIN) details to match those of the account’s legitimate owner to gain access to the account,” he said.

Mr Ndukwe said an NIN enrolment agent, Philip Ozogwu, was approached to unlawfully change Mr Okwudili’s name, date of birth, and other personal details to match the victim’s details. Mr Ozogwu allegedly received N40,000 for the services.

“With this altered information, the first suspect facilitated the fraudulent reactivation of the victim’s account, bypassing verification checks, including the Bank Verification Number (BVN) link.

“After reactivating the account, the first suspect immediately withdrew N100,000 and gave the bank staff N50,000 as a payment for his role.

“He later withdrew an additional N1.5 million, which triggered an alert from the bank’s Ohafia, Abia State branch, where the account was originally opened. This led to the detection of the fraud, and the bank management in Enugu reported the case to the police,” Mr Ndukwe explained.

He said Mr Okwudili was arrested alongside the bank staff on October 18 when the first suspect reported for another withdrawal, while the NIN agent was nabbed later.