THE long arm of the law on Sunday seized about 15 suspected fraudsters and forgers who specialized in forging counterfeit documents, including Nigeria’s International Passport.

In a raid on Oluwole Market , Lagos Island, the Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) State Security Service and the Police swooped on the market, arresting the suspects and taking away equipment they used in their illegal activities.

Dozens of fake Machine Readable Passports, E-Passports, Fake Nigeria’s Coat of Arms, Visas of many countries, fake National Youth Service Corp Call-Up letters, signatures of University Vice- Chancellors, Registrars as well as Polytechnic Rectors were recovered from the syndicate.

Speaking on the breakthrough, Comptroller of Immigration , Lagos State Command, Abbas Ahmed who held brief for the Comptroller General, Mrs. Rose Uzoma said the insistence by the Federal Government that security agencies must collaborate to ensure internal security was maintained has begun to yield dividends.

“You may recall that the e-passport was introduced in July 2007 by the Federal Government as a solution to the challenges associated with the now rested Machine Readable Passport.

“These challenges, which were due to the weakness in the overall document design, resulted in some Nigerians holding valid multiple passports.

“ However, it has come to our notice that in few instances recently, the e-passport failed to pass litmus test when placed on our Readers/Scanners at the Immigration Control at our entry-exit points suggesting that there were attempts by unscrupulous elements to tamper with the credibility of the e-passport.

“As a result of this we carried out a joint operation on Sunday at 39, Akani Street and 30 Seriki Street in Oluwole Market area of Central Lagos based on intelligence report.

“What we found was mind boggling.

“Although, screening is still on-going by our forensic analysts, we have discovered more than 500 incriminating items in the hard disk of the recovered equipment.

“At this juncture, it is important to point out that from the exhibits gathered, these fraudsters are sophisticated and well informed.

“They are aware when countries introduce new visa vignettes and other security endorsement to aid their operations and update their records accordingly.

“ However, we wish to assure Nigerians and the international community that the credibility of the e-passport is still intact. As matter of fact, it is the security measures put in place by the Nigeria Immigration Service that has exposed these criminal activities and hence, the operation.”

source: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58686:immigration-sss-raid-oluwole-market-smash-forgery-syndicate&catid=3:metro&Itemid=558

O boy, these Oluwole guys smart o! Anybody here with Oluwole visa??

kosoro:

O boy, these Oluwole guys smart o! [size=18pt]Anybody here with Oluwole visa[/size]??

Should I be worried?

“Although, screening is still on-going by our [size=28pt]forensic analysts[/size], we have discovered more than 500 incriminating items in the hard disk of the recovered equipment.

Oh puhhllzzz, what a joke!

obviously there are multiple nigerias within nigeria.

all either rotating their presence or else co-existing within sight of each other at any point in time.