Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto
The Police in Sokoto has arrested five suspects for allegedly forging National Identity cards for unsuspecting customers in the course of bank documentation.
Spokeswoman for the Command, Cordelia Nwewe, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), disclosed this while parading the suspects in Sokoto.
Nwewe said that two of the suspects were staff of a ‘new generation bank’, while the other three were business centre operators.
The police said that based on information and gathered intelligence, operatives of the State Investigative Bureau (SIB) arrested five suspects in connection with the crime.
According to Nwewe, “One Nasir Sifawa went to open a bank account in Sokoto, where he met the accounting officer, Mudassiru Taofeeq, who enquired from him about the National Identity Card.”
“In the process, the officer intimated his colleague at the bank, Perez Percy, who in turn demanded N4,000 and Sifawa’s details together with his passport photograph.
“Eventually, a temporary slip of the National Identity Card was produced for Sifawa by the said bank officer and was used to open the account,” Nwewe said.
She added that the victim innocently and unsuspectingly took the forged slip to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC ) office in Bodinga Local Government Area of the state.
“This was with the aim of collecting the original National Identity Card, but when the NIMC staff collected the slip they discovered that it was a forged document.
“As such, he alerted the NIMC head office in Sokoto who in turn informed the command about the incident.
The PPRO further said the suspects were cooperating with the investigators and would soon be charged to court.