Dollar Theft Lands Prophet, Two Others in Police Custody

Chiemelie Ezeobi
For defrauding a youth corps member of $500, a bureau de change operator, Moses Edwin, who also doubles as a prophet, was yesterday arrested by the police alongside his accomplices.

They were picked up by the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command for stealing 500 dollars out of the $5,000 given to them to convert to naira.
The victim, one Adebayo Lukman had reported the incident to the to the police and they were picked up beside Airport Hotel, Ikeja.

Lukman, a member the National Youth Service Corps serving in Lagos, had collected the $5,000 from his mother with a promise to convert it to naira.
On meeting Edwin, they had agreed on converting the dollar notes at an exchange rate of N387 to a dollar.

Edwin, was said to have thereafter invited another member of his gang, Daniel Ebhohimen who together while confirming the dollars removed $500 before handing over $4,500 back to unsuspecting Lukman.
In hi statement Lukman said: “I was trying to help my mother change the $5,000. I got to Airport Hotel and I met these men. After negotiating back and forth, they offered me N387 to a dollar.
“They took my details on the grounds that the transaction was going to be online. Edwin requested that I surrender the dollars 5,000 bills for them to confirm.

“Reluctantly, I gave them but I was monitoring them and I was counting along with them in my car. They were midway into the counting when another member of the gang distracted me from the driver’s side of my car.
“Thereafter, they handed back the money to me that it was complete and we headed to one of the banks in Opebi.

“At the bank, they told me the rate they gave me was no longer possible and that they were backing out but I offered for a renegotiation, which they refused.
“I then went into the gents to confirm the money and found out $500 was missing. Before I could come out they had ran away. The door attendants told me he saw them rushing out of the bank.
“I went to where I met them but I couldn’t see them. It was the third day that I saw Edwin and I invited the police.”
Edwin in his statement to the police, acknowledged the crime, adding that he was given N10,000 from the transaction.

Although he said his gang would pay back the stolen money, they have since been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigations.