Two Nigerians in Canada have been arrested by the Canadian police while two others were declared wanted for identity theft and fraud amounting to over $10 million. Police claim the four suspects used the funds they got from identity theft to fund a lavish lifestyle that included $10,000 crocodile skin shoes and $150,000 watches.
Canadian authorities made this known in a statement released on Tuesday. The identities of the suspects were disclosed to be: Adedayo Ogundana, 45, also known as Oladipupo Ogund; Adekunle Johnson Omitiran, 37; Duro Akintola, 44, of Toronto, who is also known as Michie Noah; and Emmanuel Salako, 47, who is also known as Gee Salaq.
Toronto police arrested Ogundana and Omitiran during an investigation which began in 2016. They executed a search on April 24 at a Yorkville condominium believed to be under the control of Adekunle, there they found evidence. Items seized during the investigation include 37 stolen credit cards, hundreds of pieces of presumably stolen mail, and a number of notebooks containing the personal information of at least 5,000 GTA residents. Police also found $39,000 in cash, $310,000 worth of watches and about $390,000 worth of clothing, jewelry, accessories and liquor.
A warrant was later issued for Akintola and Salako. Salako has also been indicted by the United States Postal Inspection Service in Chicago and is wanted there. Ogundana was arrested on December 13, 2016, and has been charged with two counts of fraud of over $5,000; 10 counts of fraud under $5,000; possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000; and possession of proceeds of crime. Omitiran surrendered to police on April 27. He is charged with fraud of over $5,000; four counts of fraud under $5,000; two counts of identity theft; trafficking identity information; possession of credit cards obtained by crime; possession of proceeds of crime; and failure to comply with probation.
Ogundana will appear in court on Thursday while Omitiran will appear in court on Friday. Police believe that Omitiran had ties to people with “legitimate” access to identity information who sold information to him. They are trying to track down those people.
“Thousands of individuals across the GTA have had their information compromised,” said Det. Const. Mike Kelly.
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