By Attah Ede
A fake senior military officer parading himself as colonel Abdullahi Saliu and allegedly defrauded unsuspecting members of the public of over ₦1.3 million in a job racket have been apprehended in Ondo State.
The Ondo State police command in a statement on Sunday 14th September posted on X, formerly tweeter, said that the fake military officer “deceitfully lured and defrauded two unsuspecting victims, Oshoade Janet ‘f’ and Daisi Remilekun Joy ‘f’, under the false pretext of securing employment opportunities for their sons in the Nigeria Customs and Immigration Services.”
The statement which was signed by the command’s public relations officer PPRO, DSP Ayanlade Olushola, explained that the command’s operatives apprehended “one Abdullahi Saliu ‘m’ of Top Quality Hotel, who notoriously paraded himself as a Colonel in the Nigerian Army.”
According to the statement, Saliu illicitly obtained the sum of One Million, Three Hundred and Seventy-Seven Thousand Naira (₦1,377,000), which he subsequently converted to his personal use.”
Investigators described him as a long-time fraudster whose activities spanned multiple states.
“Investigations further revealed that the suspect’s operations cut across state lines, with victims traced to Edo, Delta, Kogi, and Ondo states.
“He has long been on the command’s list as a notorious job racketeer, known for impersonating senior officers of different security agencies,” the statement added.
“The fake officer allegedly posed not only as an army colonel but also “presenting himself variously as a naval officer, a senior immigration and customs officer, among others, all in a bid to defraud unsuspecting citizens of their hard-earned money.”
The suspect has been arraigned before Magistrate Court 1 in Ondo State for prosecution, the statement noted.
The command said the arrest was part of a wider crackdown on fraud.
“This feat represents one of the several cases successfully cracked by the Ondo State Police Command in recent times,” it stated.
