The men specialized in defrauding applicants with non-existent job opportunities in lucrative federal government agencies such as the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, and the Nigeria Port Authority, according to the Zonal Commander, Bawa Kaltungo, who paraded the suspects on Wednesday.

After receiving a petition from a victim, Aminu Bunk, Kaltungo claimed that the anti-graft agency sprang into action.

Sifawa, a Ministry of Youths and Sports employee, allegedly introduced Bunk to one of the accused in December 2020 as someone who could assist him get work.

“The suspect duped the victim into believing he had received a job offer from the Nigeria Customs Service, following which the victim notified his friend, Bello Abubakar Wamakko, of the same opportunity.”

“In the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the suspects lured and convinced their victims to believe that once they made a payment of N350,000 each, amounting to N700,000 for the two, the offer would be theirs.

“Investigation further revealed that the suspects also made some additional demands from their victims such as transport and training fees, bringing the total payment collected from the two suspects to N1,260,000.

“Upon obtaining a search warrant, both Aminu Sifawa and Ibrahim Shehu were arrested, while various incriminating documents, including fake Nigeria Customs Service employment forms and the Nigeria Port Authority’s letters, were recovered.

“Other items recovered in the suspects’ houses included prepared aptitude test question papers and score sheets for the Nigeria Immigration Service.”

Sifawa confessed to forging and fabricating all documents found in his possession, according to Kaltungo, with the help of one John Danjuma in Abuja, who was also arrested by the commission.

He revealed that Shehu organized and initiated a fake Immigration training at the Kwant towa Primary School at Sokoto’s Army Day Primary School.

“He also enlisted the help of a serving Assistant Superintendent of the Nigeria Immigration Service, who arrived at the training facility dressed in his official attire to persuade the trainers and make it appear legitimate.

“The Immigration Superintendent lectured the trainees on the rudiments of the Nigeria Immigration Service, prepared exams for them, marked their scripts, and awarded scores. He also sold to the trainees what he claimed to be the Immigration manual (photocopy) at the cost of 5,000 naira each.”

The zonal commander said the suspects would soon be arraigned in court.