The Police Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi, Lagos, has charged two students, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola and Anthony Imonina Odemerho, at the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly hacking into MTN Nigeria Communication’s computer systems and stealing airtime and data worth N1.9 billion.
Oluwabukola, a student at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and Odemerho, a student at Resign Regal Academy in Benin City, Edo State, faced Justice Akintayo Aluko on four counts, including conspiracy, unauthorized access to the company’s web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface (API), and unlawful conversion.
Both defendants, who pleaded not guilty, along with others still at large, allegedly committed the offences between January and April this year in Lagos and Edo states.
Prosecution counsel Justine Enang accused the defendants of conspiring to access MTN’s Application Programming Interface (API) and using the obtained data to defraud the company of N1.9 billion.
He stated that their actions violated Section 27(1)(b); 6(2) and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, and are punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act.
Additionally, he mentioned that the offences contravened Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
The prosecution requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendants in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) until the trial’s conclusion. However, the defence lawyers informed the court that they had filed bail applications for their clients.
Justice Aluko scheduled the hearing of the bail applications for August 5.
The charges against the defendants are as follows:
1. “That you, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola, Anthony Imonina Odemerho, and others at large, between January and April 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to intentionally and without authorization, gain access to MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s computer system/network, with the intent to obtain data from the said computer system/network, which you subsequently used to defraud the company (MTN) of N1,900,000,000, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 27(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, and punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act.
2. “That you, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola, Anthony Imonina Odemerho, and others at large, between January and April 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, intentionally and without authorization, accessed the computer system or network of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc through the unlawful use of authorization keys and passwords to gain access to MTN’s web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface (API), with the intent of obtaining airtime data valued at N1,900,000,000, which you sold to the public and converted the proceeds to your own use and benefit, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 6(2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024.
3. “That you, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola, Anthony Imonina Odemerho, and others at large, between January and April 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, unlawfully manipulated MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s (MTN) computer system authorization keys or passwords, which you used to access MTN’s web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface (API) and fraudulently obtained airtime valued at N1,900,000,000, which you later converted to data and sold to the public, causing financial loss to MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, and punishable under Section 28(4) of the same Act.
4. “That you, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola, Anthony Imonina Odemerho, and others at large, between January and April 2024, in Lagos and Edo states, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, directly and intentionally converted MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s property, specifically airtime valued at N1,900,000,000, to data which you sold to the public and used the proceeds for your own benefit.
This property/airtime, you knew or reasonably ought to have known, formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, namely unauthorized access into MTN’s computer system/network where the property/airtime was stored, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
