The Department of State Services (DSS) in Anambra on Thursday announced the arrested of eight suspected members of a syndicate who specialised in defrauding, holding hostage and raping women.
The DSS Director in the state, Mr Alex Okeiyi, said that the arrest followed series of petitions by some female victims.
Okeiyi said that seven suspects were arrested in Asaba and one in Awka, adding that the suspects operate in two Toyota Camry cars with registration numbers JJT 840 AG and JJT 294 AA.
“They used various guises, including looking for non-existent addresses and spurious business deals to lure their victims to Asaba where they dispossess them of cash and raping them.
“One of the victims reported that the suspects dispossessed her of her Access Bank ATM with which they withdrew the sum of N192, 000 from her account.
“One particular suspect defrauded an Onitsha-based sales girl of one million naira she was supposed to deposit in a bank for her boss, for which she was investigated by the police and charged to court.
“The victim claimed that the suspects collected the money and pushed her out of their vehicle,” Okeiyi said.
Okeiyi, who said that the suspects confessed to the crime, added that they would be prosecuted.
A victim, who pleaded anonymity, alleged that one of the suspects lured her to bed with fetish powers and collected N600, 000 from her at different occasions.
One of the suspects said that he veered into fraudster through a friend after his business collapsed in September 2013.
“I was arrested because I duped a girl of one million naira using a fraud parlance called `I Go Marry You,’’ the suspect said.
