John Eze, 34, has been arrested by the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State, for allegedly defrauding a Bureau De Change operator, Ismaila Ali, in the Ikoyi area of the state, Punchng reports.
Eze had approached Ali sometime in January 2017, to exchange the sum of $7,000 for the naira equivalent. Ali was said to have paid Eze N3,451,000, buying the dollars at the rate of N493 per dollar.
The duo reportedly parted ways after the transaction, which held inside the suspect’s LEXUS 470 Jeep with number plate, Lagos AKD 612 DA. Ali said as they were about to part ways after the transaction, the suspect received a call from a woman he claimed to be his wife.
The woman reportedly disagreed on the exchange rate and Eze demanded his dollars and returned the naira. He was said to have persuaded the BDC operator to follow him to his construction site to convince his wife that the rate was good.
“He told me that his wife has £11,000 to sell to me. When we got to a traffic light on Osborne Road, he stopped to receive another call and said his wife said he should collect the money, Ali said.
He added that he would not be able to go to the construction site again because his wife was going to Ajah for a meeting. “After we alighted from the vehicle, my mind told me to take his number plate, which I did,” Ali said.
When he got to the office, they discovered that he had switched the original dollars they gave him, with fake ones. He explained that he reported the matter to the police.
Upon checking with the vehicle licensing office, it was discovered that the address given when the vehicle was registered was non-existent. A check on his telephone line showed it had been used to call only one number between December 2016 and February 2017.
The suspect, however, used the line to call a painter in Asaba, Delta State. The painter, Tony, was subsequently arrested and led the police to the Ogba area of Lagos, where Eze was arrested last Friday.