Nigeria’s national police cybercrime unit, the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF NCCC), says it has uncovered and broken up what it described as a well organised, cyber enabled fraud group accused of illegally diverting a telecommunications company’s airtime and data, with estimated losses of more than ₦7.7 billion.
The police said the case began after a Nigerian telecommunications company filed a petition over suspicious and unauthorised activity affecting its billing and payment systems, a critical part of how telecom firms record customer usage and collect revenue. Okay News reports that investigators believe the criminals gained access by compromising internal staff login details, which then allowed them to enter core systems without permission.
According to the police, the investigation found that the compromised credentials were used to unlawfully redirect airtime and data resources, causing large financial losses to the company involved. The authorities did not name the telecommunications company in the statement, but said the alleged scheme was sophisticated and relied on access to internal systems.
The police said coordinated enforcement operations were carried out in Saturday, 1 October 2025 in Kano State in northern Nigeria and Katsina State in northern Nigeria, with an additional arrest later carried out in Abuja in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, the seat of the country’s central government.
They said six suspects were arrested: Ahmad Bala, Karibu Mohammed Shehu, Umar Habib, Obinna Ananaba, Ibrahim Shehu, and Masa’ud Sa’ad.
The police also listed assets they said were recovered during the operation and linked to proceeds of the alleged crime. These include two residential houses in Kano, two mini plazas, and several business outlets described as GSM and laptop retail shops containing more than 400 laptops and 1,000 mobile phones. A Toyota RAV4 vehicle was also recovered, the statement said.
In addition, the police said they traced and recovered significant sums of money linked to the suspects’ accounts, although they did not provide a specific figure for the cash recovery.
The statement said the suspects will be charged in court after the investigation is concluded.
Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, the country’s top police officer, praised officers involved in the investigation for what he described as professionalism, the police said. He also reaffirmed the police commitment to protecting Nigeria’s digital and financial systems, dismantling cybercrime networks, and ensuring suspects are held responsible regardless of their position or connections.
The statement was signed by Chief Superintendent of Police Benjamin Hundeyin, the Force Public Relations Officer at the Nigeria Police Force headquarters in Abuja, on Wednesday, 28 January 2026.
