The Department of State Security (DSS) has arrested a 42-year old father of two, Prince Mohammed Momoh who leads a syndicate that specialize in dropping the names of senior government officials to fleece unsuspecting Nigerians for phantom positions in and outside the government.
The said Momoh was reportedly arrested while trying to use the name of the Chief of Staff to the president to defraud one Benson Aniego, from Bayelsa State of the sum of $50,000.
Parading the suspect at the DSS headquarters in Abuja, the Momoh who hails from Olamaboro in Kogi state, Public Relations Officer of the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya said Momoh was arrested when he went to collect the said mony from Aniego.
Afunanya further explained that Momoh, who once worked as an aide to a Presidency official, presented himself as an aide to the CoS and demanded the sum of $50,000 from Benson Aniego with a promise to get him to be appointed as Buhari’s Special Assistant on Oil and Gas.
Afunanya said that Momoh, who had been running the syndicate with three others-Michael Omo, Monday and Ifeanyi, now at large, told their potential victim that out of the amount $35,000 would go to the Chief of Staff while the balance would be used by other facilitators to get him the top political post.
Luck however ran out of the syndicate when Mr. Benson Aniego suspected them and contacted the service to investigate the genuineness of the group and he was asked to play along with them until the point of payment of the cash.
“We arrested Prince Momoh in a sting operation conducted on July 28, 2020 and we want to alert the public that the syndicate has no connection whatsoever with the Chief of Staff to the President or any other official of the government at any level.
“The head of the syndicate, Momoh, only exploited his former position as an aide to a top Presidency official and started to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians. He has no relationship with any Presidential official as we speak.
“That is why we are pleading with Nigerians to desist from falling victims to fraudsters who continue to drop the names of top government officials for pecuniary gains. We will continue to fish them out and expose them for what they are: fraudsters and nothing more.”
