A Yaba Chief Magistrate Court, has
issued a warrant of arrest on two Canadian nationals Kiranjot and Tara Matharoo, over failure
to appear in court.
The
defendants are standing trial before the court in a case that has to do with
threat to kidnap, cyber stalking and blackmail.
The
case involves Nigeria billionaire and oil mogul, Femi Otedola,
socialite Dapo Balogun and Omoregie Ige.
The
court has ordered the Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, to also arrest two other persons,
Alhaji Waheed Shobulo and Ade Oregbensa, who stood as sureties for the sisters
after they were granted bail by in December 2016.
The
Interpol Section of the Nigeria Police Force is already making moves to issue
an international warrant of arrest against the suspects, which would place them
on ' Red Alert.'
The
sisters, who fled the country to Canada, immediately after perfecting
their bail conditions, were first arrested by police in a five star
hotel, located at the Victoria Island Lagos, on December 9, 2016, after Otedola
filed a complaint to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris,
detailing how the sisters, blackmailed he and his daughter, using a
gossip website, nijagistlive.com.
The
sisters were alleged to have carried out series of blackmails with a Nigerian collaborator,
identified as Babatunde Oyebade.
In
his complaint to Idris, Otedola noted that the sisters, blackmailed and
threatened to kidnap members of his family, including his wife and children.
The
ladies were also alleged to have blackmailed Dapo Balogun and Omoregie Ige,
through their gossip website and demanded N3.5million from Ige before pulling
down the story off their website.
Immediately he received the letter,
Idris directed operatives attached to the Special Intelligence Response Team,
IRT, to investigate the matter.
Oyebade was first arrested in
Festac Town, Lagos. Oyebade told police how he was contracted through his
email to design the website. He insisted that he didn’t know that the website
would be used for blackmail. He added that the sum of N100,000, for his workmanship was paid him through a
taxi driver.
IRT trailed the sisters to a hotel at
Victoria Island, where they pay N178000 per night.
A laptop, containing information
indicating that the sisters operates a syndicate which specialized in
blackmailing wealthy Nigerians using the internet was recovered.
According to police, the ladies had blackmailed
several rich and influential Nigerians, including musicians.
After they were arrested, the
Canadians pleaded for clemency and vowed to shut down the website.
They were arraigned on December
23, 2016, before Chief Magistrate A.O Ojo, of the Yaba Magistrate Court ,
on a four count charge of blackmail,
threat to kidnap and cyber-stalking. A bail of N500,000 and two sureties were
granted to them. The case was adjourned.
Their
traveling passports were surrendered to the police. The sisters, however,
obtained temporary travelling documents from the Canadian Embassy in Lagos and
traveled back to their country.
They
failed to appear in court on their next adjourned date, prompting the Magistrate
to issue a bench warrant against them and their sureties.
The police have moved the case to the Federal
High Court Lagos for trial, and it has been assigned to Justice
Olatorungun.
One of the count charges read:
"That you Babatunde Oyebade, Kiranjot Matharoo, Tara Matharoo and others at large, on or
about the 17th day of July, 2016, at Ikoyi Lagos, in the Lagos Judicial
Division, did conspire among yourselves and transmit offensive and injurious
communication through computer network system known as 'Nija gist live' a
website, owned by you which contained threats to kidnap one Omoregie Ige or
harm her and requested for payment of N3.5million from her for the removal of
her name from the damaging and false communication which was published on the
said network website and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section
24(3)(a)(i) of the Cyber Crimes (prohibition and prevention) Act, Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria, 2015.”
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