The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday granted a total of N1bn bail to 109 foreign nationals detained on allegations of their alleged involvement in high-level cybercrime and hacking activities said to be threatening the nation’s security.
Justice Ekerete Akpan, while delivering a ruling in the bail application moved by the defence counsel, James Onoja, SAN, which was not opposed by the prosecution counsel A. A Egwu, ordered the defendants to present five sureties alongside the sum.
The court ruled that each of the sureties must own a landed property within the Abuja metropolis.
The judge further directed that each surety must submit two recent passport photographs to the court.
Additionally, the defendants are required to submit the original copies of their passports to the court’s deputy registrar.
The court also ordered that the sureties must also submit their passports to the court.
After the accused persons took their plea, the defence counsel made his application for bail for the defendants.
He said, “My Lord, we filed a motion for bail in respect of the first to 99th defendants and 105th to 109th defendants.
“We know that the essence of bail is to allow the defendants to appear and stand trial. That is what is allowed in the law and Administration of Criminal Justice Act. I proposed to the prosecutor this morning that we are all interested in the defendants being present for trial so I said we are ready to submit all the passports of the defendants.
“All the travel documents of all the defendants will be submitted. I know they cannot travel without their documents and then we are also willing to provide five guarantors to provide them on bail. Reliable guarantors to take them on bail.”
Onoja also informed the court that the prosecution served him with a counter affidavit on Thursday.
Earlier, the Police had arraigned the foreign nationals before the court in Abuja on charges related to cybercrime, including computer-related fraud, marketing scams, money laundering, and unlawful access to data.
According to a statement on Monday via X, by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the arrests were made on November 3 in Jahi, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, following an operation conducted by the National Cyber Crime Centre and Zone 7 Command.
During the operation, police recovered a range of sophisticated digital equipment believed to have been instrumental in the syndicate’s cyber activities.
Recovered items include laptops, smartphones, tablets, routers from multiple brands, a central processing unit, high-capacity servers, drones, multiple SIM cards, gaming devices, international passports, and other travel documents.
A Black Toyota Tundra vehicle and a Harman/Kardon sound system were also among the seized assets.
The statement read, “These assets recovered are suspected to have been used in executing a range of cybercrime activities, including unauthorised data breaches, marketing scams and other cybercrime activities. The scale and sophistication of the operation underscore the increasing global threat posed by cybercriminal syndicates operating across borders.”