Sunday, March 17, 2019

Man bags 12 months imprisonment for US visa racketeering

Taiwo Jimoh

A 55-year-old man, Bello Nosiru Yinka, has been sentenced to one year imprisonment for procuring fake visa of all agencies and high commissions by the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU).


The convict was sentenced by an Igbosere Magistrate court. Yinka was arraigned before Magistrate Abosede Botoku in court 2 Igbosere.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SFU, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Audu Lawal, in a statement yesterday said that the convict, a notorious documents vendor, who specialized in faking visas of all Embassies and High Commission was arrested by operatives of SFU after the American Consulate General complaint about Yinka’s fraudulent activities.

He said: “The convict had procured fake French Visa for one applicant, who appeared at the Consulate General for B1 B2 visa category.”

According to Lawal, the activity of visa vendors has affected genuine visa applicants who didn’t know about how visas of all categories are applied and obtained.

Lawal said: "The embassies and the high commission are there for information needed to apply for Visa. Again fake visa or documents makers are advised to desist from the unholy act otherwise the long arm of the law will always catch up with them. Also, prospective visa applicants should be wary of fraudsters parading themselves as visa agents. No embassy or high commission appoints any person or group of persons to act as Visa agent.”

The image maker said that the arrest of the convict, investigation and successful prosecution were major breakthroughs as the convict had been in the business of printing fake visas and other documents for decades.

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