… CP advises visa applicants against patronising document vendors
Juliana Francis
The Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) in Milverston, Ikoyi, Lagos State has arraigned Abioye Abolaji on an 11-Count Charge bordering on alleged forgery and obtaining money by false pretence, false representation, and stealing.
PSFU spokesman, a Superintendent of Police, Eyitayo Johnson, said that the arrest of the suspect was in furtherance to a petition from the Diplomatic Security Services (DSS) Regional Security office at the United States Consulate General (USCG), Lagos, which requested a discrete investigation into forged documents submitted by certain C-2 Visa applicants to the Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV) Unit of USCG. C-2 Visa is an NIV category reserved for participants at United Nations (UN) conferences, and events.
Johnson further said: “Investigation by USCG and PSFU into 77 C-2 applications from 24 organisations in Nigeria to attend two separate Conferences, namely, 67th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and UN 2023 Water Conference scheduled to take place in New York between 22nd-24th March 2023, revealed that most of the applicants were not qualified for the Visa classification they applied for because the applicants provided forged UN Invitation Letters.”
According to the image maker, the applicants, who claimed to be employees of Osun and Sons Agricultural Venture, Ray D. Exclusive Electrical Contractor, or ACE Technoresources Integrated Services, planned to attend UN Water Conference as a representative or nominee of these organisations, “but investigation revealed that none of the organisation is in consultative status with the UN and that the employment of most of the applicants had no bearing to either of the referenced UN Conferences,” said Johnson.
He explained that further information elicited during the Police interviews of the Visa applicants led to the arrest of Abolaji, who is the arrowhead of a notorious syndicate that specialises in Visa Fraud.
“Consequently, the Commissioner of Police, PSFU, CP Adepoju Ilori, advised prospective Visa Applicants to desist from patronising document vendors, and visa racketeers for the processing of category B-1 and B-2 Visas or any other travel documents. The CP further encouraged applicants to research the procedure, and requirements of a Visa for their intended country of destination or to approach the Diplomatic Section of PSFU for guidance in order not to fall victim to Visa Racketeers. The Unit is currently on the trail of other members of the syndicate,” stated Johnson.
