Three Nigerian men have been charged with involvement in romance fraud in the Republic of Ireland.
Rasak Sadu, Omawale Owalabi and Samson Ajayi aged between 29 and 32 were arrested during the weekend as part of a government crackdown on fraudsters themed Operation Engulf.
The trio were arrested by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau in Dublin, Navan and Drogheda and arraigned before Dublin District Court.
Authorities say the alleged offences were committed between October 2019 and April this year.
Mr Sadu has been charged with the theft of €35,000 and two counts of money laundering.
One of the money laundering charges relates to the alleged conversion of the stolen property into a €25,000 Rolex watch. The other two defendants have each been charged with three counts of money laundering.
The major probe was launched in the summer after a complaint was made by a Dublin woman.
The woman claimed she spent cash on an investment project in the Middle East that never existed after receiving correspondence on the dating website Plenty of Fish last year from a man claiming to be a US oil rig worker.
