Jennifer Ugwueke
Alleged criminal mastermind, Raymond Igbalode Abbas, known as Hushpuppi has been extradited from the United Arab Emirates to the United States.
This was revealed in a statement by the Dubai Police on Thursday in which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation extended its gratitude to the UAE crime watchdog for its role in apprehending and extraditing ‘Hushpuppi’.
DGovScoops had earlier reported in June that the Dubai police had arrested Hushpuppi, Olalekan Jacob Ponle, known as ‘woodberry’ and 10 others in an operation tagged ‘Fox Hunt’.
The suspects were accused of “committing crimes outside UAE, including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonation, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft”. the Dubai police said.
Before his arrest Hushpuppi had gained fame on social media for his outlandish display of wealth.
The director of Dubai CID, Brigadier Jamal Salam Al Jallaf said the raid that led to his arrest resulted in the confiscation of incriminating documents of a planned fraud on a global scale worth AED 1.6 billion ($435 million).
The team also seized more than AED 150 million ($40.9 million)in cash, 13 luxury cars with an estimated value of AED 25million ($6.8 million) obtained from fraud crimes and confiscated 21 computer devices 47 smartphones, 15 money sticks five hard discs containing 119,580 fraud files as well as addresses of 1,926,400 victims” he said.
After conducting further investigation and analyzing confiscated electronic devices, Dubai police investigators uncovered sensitive mined by the suspects on individuals and companies overseas including bank accounts and fake credit cards as well as documents and files condemning the gang’s illegal activities, the Dubai police said.