The Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday arraigned 11 Chinese nationals and Genting International Co. Ltd before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on charges of cyber-terrorism and internet fraud.
The defendants—Li Niu, Xiao Qinyun, Fu Zheng Yang, Xiao Yi, Bei Bei Linde Jun, Li Hang, Huan Livo, Wang Wei, Tong Mo Ying, Gao Yang, Zebin Chen, and Yuan Zhibin—were charged following their alleged involvement in a large-scale cryptocurrency investment and romance fraud scheme.
They were among 792 suspected cybercriminals arrested in Lagos on December 10, 2024, in an EFCC-coordinated raid dubbed “Eagle Flush Operation.”
The suspects face multiple charges, including cyber-terrorism, cybercrimes, possession of fraudulent documents, advance fee fraud, and identity theft.
One of the charges against Bei Bei Linde Jun states, “That you, Bei Bei Linde Jun, (Female), adult, and Genting International Co Limited, sometime between the 28th of November, 2024, and 10th of December, 2024, at No. 7, Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, with intent to defraud, willfully caused to be accessed, computer systems organized to destabilize the social and economic structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when you secretly procured and employed several Nigerian youths for identity theft and other computer-related fraud.
“You thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.,) Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2015 (As amended).”
Similarly, Li Niu’s charge reads, “That you, Li Niu, sometime in 2024, at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession documents where you represented yourself as ‘LISA,’ a female from Singapore, a representation which you knew or ought to have known was false, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
All 11 defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the charges when they were read to them in court.
In response, the prosecution team—led by Ahmed Yerima, F.S. Mohammed, A.M. Dambuwa, and N.C. Mutfwang—requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendants in a correctional facility pending trial.
Justice Aneke adjourned the case to March 14 and 21, 2025, for trial and ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Ikoyi and Kirikiri Correctional Centres.
