Operatives of the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), Ikoyi, Lagos, have arrested and arraigned one Abioye Abolaji, 53, on an 11-count charge bordering on alleged forgery, obtaining money by false pretence, false representation and stealing.
A spokesperson for the Unit, SP Eyitayo Johnson, said the arrest of the suspect followed a petition from the Diplomatic Security Services (DSS) Regional Security office at the United States Consulate General (USCG) in Lagos.
“The arrest was in furtherance to a petition, which requested discrete investigation into forged documents submitted by certain C-2 Visa applicants to the Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV) Unit of USCG.
“There were investigations by USCG and PSFU into 77 C-2 applications from 24 organisations in Nigeria to attend two separate conferences, namely, 67th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and UN 2023 Water Conference, scheduled to take place in New York between 22nd and 24th March 2023.
“It revealed that most of the applicants are not qualified for the visa classification they applied for because the applicants provided forged UN invitation letters.
“The applicants, who claimed to be employees of Osun & Sons Agricultural Venture, Ray D. Exclusive Electrical Contractor, or ACE Technoresources Integrated Services; planned to attend the UN Water Conference as a representative or nominee of these organisations.
“But investigations revealed that none of the organisations is in consultative status with the UN and that the employment of most of the applicants had no bearing on either of the referenced UN conferences,” he said.