THE police have announced the arrest of three members of a syndicate that specialises in the falsification of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) admission letters.
Disclosing this in a statement on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said that the three suspects were arrested in connection with the case of Conspiracy, Computer Related Forgery, and System Interference contrary to sections 8, 13 and 27 of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015 as amended.
The arrested suspects are Effa Leonard Mpama, Ibang Ernest Jerome, and Eshiet Odotukana Benson, all males of ages 34, 38, and 38 respectively.
The three suspects alongside others at large are said to have intentionally and knowingly conspired and procured amongst themselves services that enabled them to illegally access JAMB restricted Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) and e-facility respectively.
According to the police, they proceeded to alter and delete other candidates’ previous admission letters and inputted fake details resulting in inauthentic admission letters, which were acted upon as genuine to secure admissions into tertiary institutions and mobilisation for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, thus compromising the entire JAMB admission process with its attendant consequences.
“Upon arrest the suspects revealed their various degrees of involvement in the conspiracy, corroborating the already available overwhelming evidence.
“The duo of Effa Leonard Mpama and Ibang Ernest Jerome and others at large collect personal details of the prospective candidates and forward same to Mr Eshiet Odotukana Benson who gets CAPS links from Daniel and Chris; Messrs. Daniel and Chris still at large are working in the JAMB Computer Based Test (CBT) Centers domiciled in FAN and UNICAL respectively in Calabar, Cross River State.
“In more developments, digital Forensic analysis led to the recovery of 4 fake domains, a website and 2 principal threat actors of a syndicate in Imọ State behind the creation of the fake domains and other associated websites operated by them.
“Similarly, the third suspect, Mr Eshiet, who has access to the CAPS links unlike the duo above, proceeds to any CBT centre and opens the jamb e-facility with a login detail of a candidate with previous admission and thereafter superimposes the new details collected to create a fake admission letter.
“While strongly warning against all sorts of criminal partnerships that promote the illegal activities of this nature and others engaging in similar activities, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D. NPM applauds the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Center led by CP Uche Ifeanyi Henry as he reaffirms the commitment of the Force to leveraging on emerging technological advancements to protect the citizens of Nigeria both physically and digitally space,” the statement read.
It added that the suspects will be charged in court upon the conclusion of the investigation.