Airport Police Arrest International Romance Fraud Suspect in ₦1 Billion Scam

Airport Police Arrest International Romance Fraud Suspect in ₦1 Billion Scam

By Kingsley Ohens, reporting for Urbanscoopnews

Lagos, Nigeria — January 6, 2026

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF), through the Airport Police Command, has recorded a major breakthrough in the fight against transnational financial crimes with the arrest of a suspected international romance and celebrity scammer allegedly responsible for defrauding victims in the United States of America of more than ₦1 billion.

The suspect, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, a 20-year-old male, was apprehended on January 5, 2026, by operatives of the Anti-Fraud Unit of the Airport Police Command while attempting to board an outbound flight from Lagos. Police sources confirmed that the arrest followed months of intelligence-led surveillance based on credible information linking the suspect to large-scale international fraud operations.

According to preliminary investigations, Akpama, who previously resided in Calabar, Cross River State, relocated to Lagos State on February 23, 2024, where he allegedly coordinated and executed multiple fraudulent schemes targeting elderly and vulnerable victims abroad.

In one notable case in 2024, investigators revealed that the suspect allegedly deceived a 47-year-old female victim in the United States into transferring $1 million under the guise of funding the purchase of property in Florida for an orphanage. The funds were reportedly solicited through a cryptocurrency scheme known as “BullRun 2.0,” formerly referred to as “4 Way Mirror Money.”

Further investigations uncovered another case involving a 70-year-old female victim in the United States, who was allegedly defrauded of ₦25,709,400, equivalent to $18,000. The fraud was carried out through the purchase of gift cards, high-end mobile phones, and computer equipment, which were shipped to Nigeria at the suspect’s instruction.

Items recovered in connection with the investigation include a MacBook Pro 14-inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL devices, and a Google Pixel 10 Pro, with a combined estimated value of ₦8,141,367. Police disclosed that the suspect allegedly posed as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria, claiming the devices were required for secure communication.

Reacting to the development, the Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, CP Ogunbode Olufunke, MNIPS, PhD, reaffirmed the Command’s commitment to preventing Nigerian airports from being exploited as escape routes for criminal elements. She emphasized that intelligence-driven operations would remain central to the Command’s strategy in detecting, disrupting, and dismantling criminal networks operating within and around Nigeria’s aviation ecosystem.

The case has since been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit (NPF-SFU) for further investigation. Authorities confirmed that the suspect will be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of ongoing investigations.

The arrest underscores renewed efforts by Nigerian law enforcement agencies to clamp down on cyber-enabled fraud and restore confidence in the country’s commitment to combating international financial crimes.