EFCC has released an article detailing the alleged criminal activities of flamboyant social media big boy, Ismaila Mustapha and his accomplice, Hamza Koudeih, a Lebanese national.
In the article, the antigraft agency expressed shock over how Mompha could successfully operate 51 Fraudulent bank accounts despite the Bank Verification Number (BVN), introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria in February, 2014 which is meant to checkmate all acts of fraud in the banking sector.
Read the EFCC article below;
“He is a Lebanese, resident in Lagos and steeped in money. From his $1.3million residence in Eko Atlantic Pearl Tower to his high-end automobiles, Hamza Koudeih oozes money-all of which he made doing nothing in the country but money laundering- which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says he has done to the tune of $19million.
Those who have followed the unraveling of a Lebanese man, Hamza Koudeih by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), would readily agree that it is misleading to judge a book by its cover. He is unassuming, comes off innocuous, and given to sedentary lifestyle.
Before the ring was busted, both men had featured on EFCC and United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) radar as a high valued targets in Organised Cyber Syndicate Network (OCSN) and particularly as honchos in a trans-national network of cyber criminals.
These according to head, EFCC Cyber crime Unit (name withheld) were established by Intel, gathered by the EFCC and the FBI in their recent joint operation, tagged, “Operation Rewired.”
Worrisome is that Mompha was able to successfully operate 51 fraudulent bank accounts, through which the monies were laundered even with the enhanced account tracking and surveillance which the Bank Verification Number (BVN), introduced by the Central Bank of Nigerian in February, 2014 provides.
Koudeih was not an easy picking for the EFCC. Armed with precision Intel, additionally gathered by the EFCC, its operatives tracked him to his lair in Eko Atlantic Pearl Tower and placed the piece of the real estate, where he has his apartment on a lockdown.
Koudeih’s world of crime is heavily reinforced with a string of top-notch security architecture that inures and shields him.
Aside surveillance cameras and closed-circuit television (CCTV), that capture anyone that comes within range, his apartment is secured three times over with a triple reinforced fire-proof door, designed to withstand violent breaches, including bullet shots.
Apparently convinced that the EFCC was on wild goose chase for him, Koudeih and his wife refused to yield to all appeals by the operatives to open their maximum security door and let them in, so also the additional entreaties that later came from the tower’s chief security officer.
The lack of cooperation from the Lebanese as well as that from the owners and administrators of Eko Atlantic Pearl Tower left the EFCC with two options-beat a retreat or muscle through. It settled for the latter, reinforcing with men and breaching tools against the armoured door.
The operatives relentlessly deployed the tools against the door, expending more than three gruelling hours before they overcame.
“It was very difficult to gain entry. It was almost like a standoff. We had to send for reinforcement of officers and breaching tools from the office. We had to breach the triple reinforced fire-proof door before we could get in,” head Cyber crime, EFCC, said.
“Investigation has also revealed that he operates 51 bank accounts in Nigeria with which he acquired properties in Dubai and had laundered about N14billion through a firm known as Ismalob Global Investments Limited.
His accomplice, Koudeih, also has two firms namely: THK Services Limited and CHK properties Limited with which he has allegedly laundered about N19billion.
