The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has reiterated the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to sustain the fight against cybercrimes and other related offences in Nigeria and across the globe.
The IGP made the assertion while applauding the appointment of DCP Uche Ifeanyi Henry, head of Cybercrime Investigation Unit, INTERPOL NCB Abuja, as the Vice Chairman of Africa Heads of Cybercrime Units.
DCP Uche holds a master’s degree in Security and Strategic Studies from the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Cybersecurity at the University of Glasgow.
He is a certified Ethical Hacker and a Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator, having attended several local and international courses on cyber security.
He is equally a member of the INTERPOL Cybercrime Advisory Body, and Association of Cybercrime Specialists, among other professional associations.
The IGP noted that the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Investigation Unit has recorded remarkable successes in dismantling the operations of organised transnational crime syndicates and apprehending perpetrators of cybercrimes.
Notable amongst these include the arrest of two threat actors who through an elaborate Business Email Compromise (BEC) scheme diverted the sum of 2.3million Euro belonging to a German Company to their Nigerian account. The money was for the purchase of a face mask and covid 19 testing.
Similarly, the Police apprehended the perpetrators of the BEC scheme which diverted Covid 19 testing kits belonging to a British company and recovered all the goods.
Additionally, the Unit was instrumental in the rescue of a 69-year-old American woman who was lured to Nigeria and fleeced of over half a million dollars by threat actors in a romance scam.
The Police have equally arrested suspects who specialise in generating and distributing child pornography online through the agency of the Cybercrime Unit.
Baba charged the Police Cybercrime Investigation Unit to continually boost its capacity and be ahead of perpetrators of cyber crimes within its jurisdiction. The IGP equally warns all intending cyber criminals, particularly youths, to desist from engaging in criminality but rather to become creative, productive, noble, and legal enterprises for the attainment of great and lofty heights in the nation.
