‘We use voodoo to trick victims into parting with their money’

The police in Lagos have arrested six suspected fraudsters alleged to be specialists in hypnotizing their victims before dispossessing them of their valuables. The suspects, all female, who were said to have their operational bases at FESTAC, along the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road and in Ikoyi, were nabbed by detectives from the Lagos State […]

The police in Lagos have arrested six suspected fraudsters alleged to be specialists in hypnotizing their victims before dispossessing them of their valuables.

The suspects, all female, who were said to have their operational bases at FESTAC, along the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road and in Ikoyi, were nabbed by detectives from the Lagos State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) following series of complaints from members of the public.

The identities of the suspects were given as Damilola Lawal, 29; Folashade Makinde, 49; Joke Babayemi, 37; Precious Sunday, 20; Victoria Emmanuel, 42; and Gift Adams.

The police disclosed that the suspects were operating within the three areas by sending their members to give fake testimonies of how they were healed by prophetesses, who happened to be their colleagues. It was learnt that the younger members of the gang were referred to as ‘Catchers’, while the older ones were known as ‘Prosecutors’.

Sunday told journalists at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, Lagos where she was paraded on Wednesday with other members of the gang that she would pretend ill before a crowd of people at a fake crusade organized by the gang.

She said, “I will later testify to the crowd that I have been healed by the prayers and prophecies of the Prosecutor. At times we would tell worshippers how their destinies had been negatively affected by witches we would say were members of their respective families. We would then ask them to buy a bottle of anointing oil for N5000 and should come for more prayers.” The suspected fraudster further revealed that at times, their leaders would use voodoo to hypnotize gullible followers and before the victim realized what was happening, the gang would have collected all his or her life savings.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, parading the suspects, gave the name of the gang’s leader as David Elijah, a fake pastor who is still on the run.

Odumosu said the suspects were arrested on December 17, 2019 at Ikoyi, Lagos, and had confessed to receiving a payment of N3,000 each from Elijah to stage the fake miracles.