Officers of the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force on Monday arraigned Israel Onen before the Federal High Court in Lagos over his alleged involvement in a \u20a660 million visa racketeering scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Onen was brought before Justice Ibrahim Kala on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, fraud, stealing, and money laundering. The charges, filed by the police and marked FHC\/L\/1203C\/2025, stem from allegations that the defendant defrauded a complainant, Akinola Ayodele Emmanuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the prosecution, Onen conspired with others who are currently at large between 2024 and 2025 to fraudulently obtain \u20a660 million under the guise of procuring Ireland and Schengen countries\u2019 visas for the complainant\u2019s clients. The prosecutor told the court that the promised visas were never secured and the money was not refunded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police further alleged that the defendant\u2019s actions contravened provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, and the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Onen pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him. Following his plea, the prosecution requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendant in the custody of the Zone 2 Command, citing multiple complaints against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, defence counsel, O. Ogu, opposed the application for remand and asked the court to grant the defendant bail on liberal terms, noting that a bail application had already been filed and served on the prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his ruling, Justice Kala granted Onen bail in the sum of \u20a660 million with one surety in like sum. The court ordered that the surety must either be a civil servant not below Grade Level 13 or a landed property owner with property valued at \u20a660 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge further directed that both the defendant and the surety must deposit two passport photographs each, along with their National Identification Numbers, Bank Verification Numbers, bank account details, and phone numbers used for receiving bank alerts. He also ordered that the court registrar and the prosecutor participate in the verification of the bail conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Kala adjourned the case to February 12, 2026, for trial and ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Zone 2 Command, Onikan, pending the perfection of his bail conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Officers of the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force on Monday arraigned Israel Onen before the Federal High Court in Lagos over his alleged involvement in a \u20a660 million visa racketeering scheme. Onen was brought before Justice Ibrahim Kala on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, fraud, stealing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":87813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t