Court grants N100m bail to 2 students for hacking MTN computers
A Federal High Court in Lagos has granted bail of N50 million each to two students, Timothy Oluwabukola from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Anthony Odemerho from Resign Regal Academy.
The pair is accused of hacking into the computers of MTN Nigeria Communication and allegedly stealing airtime and data valued at N1.9 billion.
Justice Akintayo Aluko approved their bail on Monday after reviewing separate applications from the defendants.
As part of the bail conditions, the judge mandated that each defendant provide two sureties, one of whom must be a civil servant employed in either the federal or Lagos State government, holding at least a grade level 14 and above.
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The other surety is required to be a landed property owner within the court’s jurisdiction, providing proof of ownership and swearing to an affidavit of means.
In the case of the civil servant, they must produce a reference letter of their place of work, and a letter of last promotion, while the defendants must submit two recent passport photographs to the court registrar.
Aluko ordered that the prosecution should verify all documents submitted by the sureties including their residential addresses.
The court further ordered that the defendants be remanded in the Correctional Centre pending the fulfilment of their bail conditions.
Oluwabukola and Odemerho were arraigned on July 30, 2024, by the Police Special Fraud Unit.
They are facing four counts bordering on conspiracy, unauthorised access into the company’s web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface and unlawful conversion, preferred against them by the police.
The police prosecution counsel, Justine Enang, told the court that the defendants committed the alleged offences with others now at large.
Enang told the court that Oluwabukola and Odemerho, said to be students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta, Ogun State, and Resign Regal Academy in Benin City, Edo State, respectively, committed the offences sometime between January and April 2024, in Lagos and Edo states.
He said that the duo allegedly hacked into the MTN web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface, and stole N1.9bn worth of airtime and data.
According to the prosecutor, the offences committed contravened Sections 27(1)(b); 6(2) and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, but punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act.
He added that the offences also contravened Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention And Prohibition) Act, 2022, punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
However, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Following their not-guilty plea, the prosecutor asked the court for a trial date and urged the court to remand them in the custody of a correctional centre till the determination of the charge.
But, the defence lawyer informed the court that he had filed two applications for bail and the same had been served on the prosecutor.
In response, the prosecutor confirmed being served with the bail applications but told the court that he was served while the proceedings were going on.
He asked the court for a short date to enable him to study the applications and respond to them.
Consequently, Justice Aluko adjourned the case till August 5, 2024, for a hearing of the defendants’ bail applications.
Proofreading by Fa’izatu Aliyu Doma, Journalist at Neptune Prime.
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