By Olakunle Oke
Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday sentenced two Chinese nationals, Huang Haoyu and An Hongxu, to 46 years’ imprisonment each for cyberterrorism and internet fraud.
The convicts were part of a larger syndicate of 792 fraudsters arrested in December 2024 during a surprise operation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) code-named “Eagle Flush Operation.” The operation targeted perpetrators of cryptocurrency, investment, and romance scams across Lagos.
Investigations revealed that one of the co-accused, Friday Audu, incorporated Genting International Co. Ltd. at the direction of Huang Haoyu to facilitate the fraudulent scheme. The syndicate recruited Nigerian youths to impersonate foreign nationals and defraud unsuspecting victims on online platforms.
Huang, Hongxu, Audu, and the company faced a seven-count charge from the Lagos Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, covering cyberterrorism, internet fraud, and money laundering. The offenses involved N3,407,824,740.78 (over three billion naira) and $2,562,203.
One of the counts read: “That you, Huang Haoyu, a.k.a Ken, Audu Friday, An Hongxu, Duliang Pan (at large) and Genting International Co. Ltd, sometime in 2024 in Lagos, conspired to access computer systems to seriously destabilize Nigeria’s economic and social structure by employing Nigerian youths to falsely represent themselves as foreign nationals, contrary to Section 27 of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015 (as amended, 2024).”
Initially, the accused pleaded “not guilty.” However, at the resumed sitting on Wednesday, counsel Bridget Omateno informed the court that Haoyu and Hongxu wished to change their plea to “guilty.” Audu maintained his plea of “not guilty.”
Following the guilty plea, prosecution counsel Bilikisu Bala-Buhari urged the court to impose maximum penalties: life imprisonment on counts 1, 2, and 3, and 14 years on counts 4 to 7. The prosecution also requested the forfeiture of all items recovered during the investigation to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Items seized included 1,596 mobile phones, 2,120 office chairs, 544 office tables, 194 routers, 43 computer systems, a network server, 126 air-conditioning units, several generators, vehicles, hundreds of mattresses and bunk beds, thousands of SIM cards, and numerous electronic and household items across four properties in Victoria Island and Ikoyi.