How Nigeria Police officers aided N1.6bn travel scam – Nepalese national reveals

A Nepalese national, identified simply as Bista, has disclosed how some officers at the Nigeria Police Force headquarters in Abuja played a role in a fraudulent scheme that cost him about N1.6 billion.

Bista made the allegation in an interview with social media activist, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, or VDM.

He narrated how he and dozens of other foreign nationals were allegedly deceived with promises of relocating from Nigeria to Suriname for business.

He added that the scheme was orchestrated by a Cameroonian, Emmanuel Masa, resident in Nigeria.

According to him, Masa claimed to have secured a partnership involving Azman Airlines and another firm to facilitate visas, travel documents and chartered flights to the South American country.

The Nepalese citizen further noted that he first travelled to Abuja from Gambia in 2023 with six associates after being assured the arrangement was genuine.

Bista claimed that his confidence in the scheme increased after he was taken to the Force Headquarters, where, according to him, police officers attended a meeting with prospective travellers.

“One of the officers openly vouched for Masa, assuring those present that the arrangement was legitimate.

“After the involvement of the police, we had nothing to worry about. I subsequently paid an initial $20,000 for the trip after Masa promised the flight would depart within two weeks.

“When the departure failed to materialise, Masa blamed the delay on an insufficient number of passengers and persuaded us to recruit more people,” he said.