<\/p>\n
Nine Chinese nationals have been convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment each by the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, for offences bordering on cyber-terrorism and internet fraud.<\/p>\n
Justice D.E. Osiagor handed down the sentence on Thursday, June 5, 2025, after the convicts\u2014Li Dong, Deng Wei Qiang, Huang Bo, Xiong Zhen, Lai Rui Feng, Zhao Xiao Hui, Lui Hai Rong, Lui Gang, and Du Ji Feng\u2014pleaded guilty to a one-count charge filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).<\/p>\n
According to a statement issued by Dele Oyewale, Head of Media and Publicity at the EFCC, the convicts were part of a wider syndicate of 792 suspects arrested on December 19, 2024, during a coordinated sting operation in Lagos codenamed \u201cEagle Flush Operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The operation targeted individuals involved in cryptocurrency investment scams and romance fraud.<\/p>\n
The EFCC had arraigned the nine Chinese nationals separately in February 2025 at the Federal High Court, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 in Ikoyi.<\/p>\n
Each faced a similar charge alleging that they conspired to gain unauthorized access to computer systems for the purpose of destabilising Nigeria\u2019s economy and social structure, an act defined as cyber-terrorism under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act of 2015.<\/p>\n
The specific charge read:
\n“That you, Li Dong, Deng Wei Qiang, Huang Bo, Xiong Zhen, Lai Rui Feng, Zhao Xiao Hui, Lui Hai Rong, Lui Gang and Du Ji Feng, sometime in December, 2024 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: cause to be accessed computer system used for the purpose of destabilising and destroying the economy and social structure of Nigeria and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 (1) (b) and punishable under Section 18(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015.”<\/p>\n
Initially, the defendants pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
However, during Thursday’s court sitting, they changed their plea to guilty.<\/p>\n
Following their new plea, prosecuting counsel Nnaemeka Omewa urged the court to convict and sentence them accordingly, a request the defence counsel did not oppose.<\/p>\n
Justice Osiagor consequently sentenced each defendant to one year in prison, with the term commencing from the date of their arrest on December 19, 2024.<\/p>\n
In addition, the court imposed a fine of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) on each of the convicts.<\/p>\n
The judge further directed the Nigerian Immigration Service to ensure their repatriation to China within seven days of completing their sentence.<\/p>\n
As part of the ruling, Justice Osiagor also ordered the forfeiture of all devices recovered during the operation, including mobile phones, laptops, computers, and routers to the Federal Government of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The EFCC has reiterated its commitment to curbing cyber-related crimes, particularly those that pose threats to national security and economic stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nine Chinese nationals have been convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment each by the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, for offences bordering on cyber-terrorism and internet fraud. Justice D.E. Osiagor handed down the sentence on Thursday, June 5, 2025, after the convicts\u2014Li Dong, Deng Wei Qiang, Huang Bo, Xiong Zhen, Lai […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[670,3105,551,3106,3107],"class_list":["post-4776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-commitment","tag-convicted","tag-repatriation","tag-sentenced","tag-unauthorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4777,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776\/revisions\/4777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}