By Louise Jobe
Twenty-one (21) Nigerians were on Tuesday arraigned before Magistrate P.M. Njie of the Bundung Magistrate’s Court on charges of mobile and online scamming.
The accused persons were charged with four criminal counts namely; conspiracy, unlawful possession of devices and data, computer related extortion, fraud and forgery, and Offence and revocation of passes and permits.
Inspector Gomez, Sergeant O. Touray, and Corporal H. Jatta appeared for the Inspector General of Police while Lawyer Mbye represented all the 21 accused persons.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to defraud. Chinedu Onychukwu pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawful possession of devices and data while the other 20 accused persons pleaded not guilty. All of them denied liability on the charge of computer related extortion.
Beullo Paul, KazemAkamo, Aroyame Blessing Okemesnimi and Okhioya Harrison pleaded guilty to the charge of offences and revocation of passes and permits while the rest pleaded not guilty.
The other accused persons were PetertOmoruyi, Ezekiel Aigbonobe, ModouHaples, David Oga, RoayondKkin, Francis Adoga, Dickson Ameh, Okosun Precious, OseniSumaila, Augustine Uhumoabhi, MuhammedOkhioya, Ezekiel Ishogbereya, Yakuba Young, OkechiEmmauela, BawaJonhson and Damisa Daniel.
The police opposed bail for the 21 accused persons saying they might abscond or tamper with the ongoing investigation. Defence Counsel Mbye said the charges are all bailable. He submitted that they are entitled to bail as he relied on section 99 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and sections 17, 19 and 33 of the Constitution of The Gambia.
Magistrate P. M. Njie will rule on the bail application on the 4th April 2024 at 13:30.
