The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Mustapha Mohammed, chief executive officer (CEO) of MB Lugga Global Travels and Tours Limited, before a federal high court in Gombe on charges of defrauding hajj pilgrims.
The EFCC accused Mohammed of fraudulently obtaining N144,162,500 from the pilgrims for services related to the 2024 Ramadan Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia, including flight tickets, visas, and accommodation.
The EFCC claimed that Mohammed, in collaboration with Nazifi Sale Idris, who is currently at large, defrauded a man named Hamza Ibrahim Maina of N97,080,000 via Mohammed’s personal Access Bank account.
Another charge involves a similar scam against Ibrahim Arabia, for which Mohammed allegedly obtained N29,082,500.
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Count one of the charges reads: “That you, Mustapha Mohammed, male adult, while being the Chief Executive Officer of MB Lugga Global Travel and Tours Limited and Nazifi Sale Idris (now at large) sometimes in 2024 at Gombe, Gombe state within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did with intent to defraud falsely obtained through your personal Access Bank plc account number 0026323827, the total sum of N97,080,000.00(Ninety Seven Million, Eighty Thousand Naira) from one Hamza Ibrahim Maina for the purpose of procurement of flight tickets, visas and accommodation for 2024 Ramadan Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.
Count two of the charge reads: “That you Mustapha Muhammed, male adult, while being the Chief Executive Officer of MB Lugga Global Travel and Tours Limited and Nazifi Sale Idris( now at large) sometime between December,2023 and February, 2024 at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did with intent to defraud falsely obtained through your personal Access Bank plc account number 0026323827, the total sum of N29,082,500.00(Twenty Nine million, Eighty Two Thousand, Five Hundred Naira) from one Ibrahim Arabia for the Ramadan Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(2)(a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other fraud related offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.
Upon pleading guilty to the charges, Mohammed’s counsel, M.Z. Gambo, applied for bail. However, the prosecution, led by S.H. Saad, opposed the application, arguing that Mohammed poses a flight risk.
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The EFCC highlighted that Mohammed faces additional fraud allegations amounting to N120,869,500 from various complainants.
“My lord, the defendant still has about eight (8) other pending petitions filed by different nominal complainants alleging that he defrauded them to the aggregate sum of N120,869,500 and if granted bail, he might flew the shores of Nigeria and may never be found again. Therefore, for the interest of justice, we urge my Lord not to grant the defendant bail.” he said
Tijjani Ringim, the presiding judge, adjourned the case for a ruling on the bail application and ordered that Mohammed be remanded in the Gombe State correctional facility.
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