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Fake prophet arrested for stealing corps member’s dollars

A self-acclaimed prophet has been arrested by the police in Lagos for stealing $500 belonging to a serving youth corps member.

The fake prophet, Moses Edwin and his partner in crime

Punch reports that the suspect who presented himself to Lookman as a prophet with an orthodox church, reportedly told his victim that he operated a bureau de change business, was able to connive with his gang members to steal the money while pretending to change $5,000 for him.

Edwin was arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the state command after he made away with the money.

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It was gathered that Lookman had approached Edwin in the Ikeja area of the state where he was seeking to exchange $5,000 belonging to his mother, for Naira.

The suspect was said to have tricked the victim into releasing the dollars to another gang member, Daniel Ebhohimen, whom he claimed would confirm if the money was complete and real.

While Eghohimen was counting the money which were in $100 notes, another member of the gang allegedly distracted the victim from monitoring the process while Eghohimen slipped five notes from the money into his pocket.

The transaction was then truncated after a disagreement between the parties on the exchange rates but before Lookman could realize what had happened, the suspects had allegedly fled the scene.

In his statement to the police, Lookmon said Edwin had initially promised to convert the money at an exchange rate of N387 to a dollar.

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“When I got to a hotel around the Ikeja area, I met the men who said they were bureau de change operators. After negotiating back and forth, they offered to exchange the $5,000 at the rate of N387 to a dollar.

They took my details and said the transaction would be done online. Edwin requested that I surrender the $5,000 for confirmation.

Reluctantly, I released the money. But I was monitoring and counting along with them in my car. Midway into the counting, another member of the gang distracted me from the driver’s side.

Thereafter, they handed back the money to me, saying that it was complete and we headed for one of the banks in the Opebi area.

All along, they prevented me from counting the money. At the bank, they told me the rate they gave me was no longer possible and that they were backing out of the deal; but I offered a renegotiation.

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I told them to excuse me and went into a toilet to confirm the money. I counted it and discovered that $500 was missing.

Before I could come out, they had run away. A security guard told me he saw them rushing out of the bank.”

Lookmon narrated further that he went back he met the suspects and discovered they had disappeared but later sighted Edwin around the area three days later and alerted the police who arrested him.

The suspect who reportedly confessed to the police after his arrest said he got the sum of  N10,000 from the theft though eh denied following the gang to the bank.

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Confirming the arrest of Edwin and another gang member, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole said the suspects had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, for further investigations before they would be charged to court.

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