Lagos Court Grants N50m Bail to Students Accused of Hacking MTN and Stealing N1.9bn in Airtime and Data
On Monday, the Federal High Court in Lagos granted bail to two students, Timothy Oluwabukola of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Anthony Odemerho of Resign Regal Academy, who are accused of hacking into MTN Nigeria Communication’s systems and stealing airtime and data worth N1.9 billion.
Justice Akintayo Aluko approved the bail, setting it at N50 million for each defendant after reviewing their separate bail applications. The judge also imposed additional conditions, requiring each defendant to provide two sureties. One surety must be a civil servant employed by the federal or Lagos State government, holding a position at grade level 14 or higher. The second surety must own property within the court’s jurisdiction and present proof of ownership along with an affidavit of means.
For the civil servant surety, the court mandated the submission of a reference letter from their workplace and documentation of their most recent promotion. Additionally, the defendants are required to provide two recent passport-sized photographs to the court registrar.
Justice Aluko directed the prosecution to verify all documents provided by the sureties, including their residential addresses, before the defendants can be released on bail. Until these conditions are met, Lagos court ordered that Oluwabukola and Odemerho remain in custody at the Correctional Centre.
The defendants, who were brought before Lagos court by the Police Special Fraud Unit on July 30, 2024, face four charges related to conspiracy, unauthorized access to a corporate web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface, and unlawful conversion of resources. The charges were brought against them by the police.
According to the prosecution, led by counsel Justine Enang, the alleged crimes took place between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states. The defendants, along with others who are still at large, are accused of hacking into MTN’s platform and stealing airtime and data worth N1.9 billion.
The prosecutor highlighted that the charges violated Sections 27(1)(b); 6(2) and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, with penalties outlined in Section 8(2) of the same Act. Additionally, the offences also breached Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and are punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. Following their pleas, the prosecutor requested a trial date and asked the court to keep the defendants in custody until the case is resolved. However, the defense counsel informed the court that bail applications had already been filed and served on the prosecution.
The prosecutor acknowledged receipt of the bail applications but noted that they were served during the court session. He requested a brief adjournment to review the applications and prepare a response.
Consequently, Justice Aluko of Lagos court postponed the case to August 5, 2024, for the hearing of the bail applications.
Source: The Punch
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