Five persons have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command over fake COVID-19 results at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) while two others are still at large.
The suspects, Achibong Idorenyin, Moses Samuel, Popoola Adewale, Wale Aderele and Abdulmalik Ibrahim, police said major in selling fake COVID-19 negative results to unsuspecting travellers within the international wing of the airport.
The suspects at large are; Shehu Imam and Adeola Darlington who works with Sky Blue Services limited, a cleaning service at the airport.
Briefing journalists, on Thursday, in his office at the airport, Mr Bature Umar, the Commissioner, Airports Command, said that 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 Commissioner, one of the suspects had approached Osagbogun promising to produce a COVID-19 negative certificate for him.
Two of the suspects, Popoola Adewale and Adeola Darlington, 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 positive certificate for the victim.
Umar explained that one of the suspects took the victim to DAT Cybercafe at No. 4, Oriyomi Street, Ikeja where a fake COVID-19 negative certificate was eventually procured for him.
