An Apapa Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday sentenced a 40-year-old man, Morgan Mohammed, to five years imprisonment for impersonating an officer of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and defrauding victims of N454,000.
Magistrate T.O Babalola, sentenced Mohammed after he pleaded guilty to three counts of impersonation, stealing and obtaining under false pretense.
“Based on the facts of this case, confirmed report and the plea of leniency, I hereby sentence you to five years imprisonment with an option to pay back the total sum stolen from the complainants.
”The court also sentences the convict to six months community service for the charge of impersonation,” he ruled.
Earlier the prosecutor, Sgt. Friday Inedu, told the court that the convict committed the offence between August and October 2018 at Agip Estate, Satelite Town, Lagos.
He said the convict paraded himself as an NCS officer to Ibewuike Emeka, Ogechi Ezeaka and Musa Dauda, and obtained N114,000 on the pretext of getting a job for them.
Inedu said Mohammed also obtained N340,0000 from Vivian Nweke and Thelma Raji, with a promise to supply 30 bags of rice each to them.
The prosecutor also told the court that the convict stole items worth N113,000 from Raji.
He said that when the complainants discovered that they had been duped by the convict, they reported the matter to the police and Mohammed was arrested for questioning.