EFCC Arraigns CEO for Alleged N144m Hajj Pilgrims Fraud in Gombe
The Gombe Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Mustapha Mohammed, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MB Lugga Global Travels and Tours Limited, before Justice T.G. Ringim of the Federal High Court in Gombe. Mohammed faces three counts of charges related to fraud and obtaining by false pretenses, amounting to N144,162,500 (One Hundred and Forty-Four Million, One Hundred and Sixty-Two Thousand, and Five Hundred Naira).
One of the charges states that in 2024, while serving as the CEO of the travel company, Mohammed, along with a co-defendant, Nazifi Sale Idris (who is currently at large), allegedly defrauded a victim, Hamza Ibrahim Maina, by falsely obtaining the sum of N97,080,000 (Ninety-Seven Million, Eighty Thousand Naira) through his personal Access Bank Plc account. This sum was purportedly for the procurement of flight tickets, visas, and accommodation for the 2024 Ramadan Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia, an arrangement Mohammed knew to be fraudulent.
The charge is in violation of Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offenses Act, 2006, which is punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
