The Special Fraud Unit of the Lagos State police command has arrested seven suspects over cases of forgery and impersonation during visa applications and interviews at the US Embassy, Lagos.

The suspects, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the SFU, Mr. Yinka Balogun, said in a in interview with the Nigeria Tribune on Wednesday, were Islamiyat Agoro, Emeghara Joseph, Popoola Stephen, Adebisi Ogunpola, Babatunde Akindele, Hadijat Balogun and Emmanuel Chukwu.

He said the crimes were allegedly committed with the international passports the suspects presented at the embassy. According to Balogun, Agoro had gone to the embassy on January 8 for a visa interview and upon review of the embassy’s records, it was discovered that she had previously travelled to the United States using another identity.

The SFU boss pointed out that the embassy officials detected that on July 30, 2007, the suspect had entered the United States with a United Kingdom passport number 094480424 bearing the name Salimot Agoro.

Balogun said the crime was confirmed through fingerprints and physical recognition software at the embassy, stressing that the final analysis showed that the finger print was that of the suspect and recovered documents were later forwarded to the SFU for further investigation.



He said the suspect had confessed to have travelled to the United States using a UK passport and that Salimot was her sister, with whom she shared some physical attributes.



“The said Salimot Agoro presently resides in the UK and efforts are on to reach her for questioning,” Balogun said. The commissioner said the suspects would be prosecuted after investigations on the matter were completed.



Similarly, he said Joseph had on January 4, applied for a visa with a Nigerian passport containing Canadian and Hungarian visas, which, on inspection by the consular officer, were discovered to be fake.



According to him, during investigation, the suspect also confessed that both visas were forged by one Shola Iyun for N80,000. Balogun said the suspect explained that fake visas were done to make his passport appear used, thereby creating an impression that he was a frequent traveller.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/jan/25/604.html