Police special fraud unit stops notorious visa racket in Lagos for falsifying UN invitation letters and other documents
Officers from the Special Police Fraud Unit (PSFU) Ikoyi, Lagos, attached to the Diplomatic Section, arrested and charged one Abioye Abolaji, on an eleven-count charge bordering on forgery alleged, of obtaining money by false pretense, false representation and theft.
PSFU spokesperson SP Eyitayo Johnson in a Thursday, March 23, 2023 statement said Abolaji, 53, is a member of a notorious syndicate that specializes in visa fraud, falsification of invitation letters United Nations and other documents.
“The suspect’s arrest was in response to a request from the Diplomatic Security Services (DSS) Regional Security Office at the United States Consulate General (USCG), Lagos; who called for a quiet investigation into falsified documents submitted by some C-2 visa applicants to the USCG’s Nonimmigrant Visa (NIV) Unit. The C-2 visa is a category VIN reserved for attendees of United Nations (UN) conferences/events,” the statement read.
“Survey by USCG and PSFU of 77 C-2 applications from 24 organizations in Nigeria to attend 2 separate conferences, namely the 67th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and the Conference on the UN UAE 2023 scheduled for New York between March 22 -24, 2023; revealed that most applicants are not qualified for the visa classification they applied for because applicants provided fake invitation letters United Nations.
“The applicants, who claimed to be employees of Osun & Sons Agricultural Venture, Ray D. Exclusive Electrical Contractor or ACE Technoresources Integrated Services; planned to attend the United Nations Water Conference as a representative or nominee of these organizations, but the investigation revealed that none of the organizations has consultative status with the UN and that the employment of most candidates had no bearing on either of them. United Nations conferences mentioned.
“Further information obtained during the police questioning of visa applicants led to the arrest of a certain Mr. Abioye Abolaji, who is the arrowhead of a notorious syndicate specializing in visa fraud .
“As a result, the Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Police Unit, CP Adepoju Ilori; advised potential visa applicants to refrain from patronizing document sellers/visa racketeers for visa processing category B-1 and B-2 or any other travel document.
“The PC further encouraged applicants to research the visa procedure/requirements for their intended country of destination or to contact the PSFU Diplomatic Section for guidance so as not to fall victim to visa racketeering. The Unit is currently on the trail of other union members.
