The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned 11 Chinese nationals for cyber fraud, identity theft, and allegedly attempting to destabilise Nigeria’s constitutional structure.
The suspects were brought before the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday, where they pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The EFCC said the foreign nationals were arrested during a special operation called “Eagle Flush Operation” on December 19, 2024, in Lagos.
Following their plea, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke ordered that they be kept at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre until their trial.
The defendants include Wang Xiong Wei (alias Xiao Bai), Chen Dong Dong (alias Cun Zhao), Chen Yuan (alias Xiao Doa), Wu Yuan An (alias Zeng Niu), Wang Gong Lin (alias Wang Jing Lin), and Weng Mao Rong (alias A Xiang).
Five others, Liu Ke Fan (alias Lina, Lui Chen), Huang Hai Tao, Zhang Jian Feng, Wu A Wang, and Xiao Xin, were also arraigned on charges related to cybercrime, cyberterrorism, and identity theft.
According to the EFCC, the suspects recruited Nigerian youths to participate in cyber fraud schemes.
One of the suspects, Liu Ke Fan, was accused of impersonating a 28-year-old American named Lina as part of a romance scam and cryptocurrency fraud operation.
Prosecutors alleged that in December 2024, Liu Ke Fan “fraudulently impersonated a U.S. citizen using a fake profile on his company’s Maya desktop computer.”
The EFCC further claimed that the defendants belonged to a syndicate of 792 individuals involved in cryptocurrency scams and romance fraud.
The prosecution team, led by M.K. Bashir and R.A. Abdulrasheed, told the court that the suspects accessed computer systems to destabilise Nigeria’s constitutional structure by hiring Nigerian youths for identity theft.
The EFCC stated that their actions violated Sections 18 and 27 of the Cybercrimes Act (2015, amended in 2024) and Section 39(2) of the EFCC Act (2004).
Justice Aneke adjourned the case to February 21 and March 7, 2025, for further hearing.
