Popular film-maker, Seun Karim, aka Seun Egbegbe, has been arrested again, this time around he’s arrested for fraud. This is coming barely two months after he was arrested for allegedly stealing nine iPhones valued at millions of naira.
It was learnt that Egbegbe was arrested around 1pm on Thursday along with one Ayo Oyekan on the Gbagada General Hospital premises after allegedly defrauding two bureau de change operators to the tune of $9,000 (N4.5m) and £3,000 (about N1.8m).
As the police at the Area H Command, Ogudu, obtained their statements, about 50 bureau de change operators, who claimed to have been defrauded by Egbegbe, thronged the command to lodge complaints.
It was gathered that Egbegbe had disguised as the managing director of the Gbagada General Hospital, while his accomplice acted as a patient to perpetrate the Thursday crime.
The suspects had gone to a bureau de change in the Ifako area in a Jeep and approached one Alhaji Isa Adamu that they wanted to buy $9,000.
They were said to have taken the unsuspecting victim to the hospital gate and told him to wait while they went into the hospital under false pretences of getting him the naira equivalent.
“When the bureau de change operator realised that he had been defrauded, he searched the hospital, but could not find them.
“He later went to report the case at the Ifako Police Division. This happened around 12pm,” a source said.
After about an hour, Egbegbe went back to another place around Ifako to buy £3,000 from another bureau de change operator, Abdullahi Haruna.
“He also took the victim in his car to the hospital and dropped him off at the gate. He lied to Haruna that he was the MD of the hospital. He told him to give him three minutes to go into the hospital ward so he could collect the naira equivalent from a patient who needed the money.
“When Haruna noticed that the suspect was running late, he traced him to a corner on the hospital premises and raised the alarm as the two suspects attempted to escape with the money,” a police source said.
It will be recalled that Egbegbe had been arrested on November 22, 2016, after he allegedly attempted to flee with nine iPhones valued at N2.4m, which he had bought at a shop in the Computer Village, Ikeja.
He was arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court on two counts of stealing and was supposed to appear before the court on February 8 for the trial.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, who confirmed Egbegbe’s arrest for the alleged N6.3m fraud, said the command had commenced investigations into the case.
She said, “At about 1pm on Thursday, one Seun Karim, aka Egbegbe, and one Ayo Oyekan disguised as the MD of the Gbagada General Hospital and as a patient respectively. They lured one Alhaji Isa Adamu and Abdullahi Haruna, both bureau de change operators, from different locations that they needed $9000 and £3,000.
“The unsuspecting victims brought same to the suspects at the hospital and the suspects collected the said amount and attempted to escape with the money. The victims raised the alarm and subsequently, the suspects were arrested by policemen attached to the hospital.
“After the arrest of the suspected fraudsters, other bureau de change operators have been coming up with similar complaints against the suspects. The case is under investigation.”
