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Hackers Who Allegedly Stole N1.9 billion From MTN Network Gets N50 million Bail from Federal High Court in Lagos
Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court in Lagos granted bail in the amount of N50 million to two individuals, Timothy Oluwabukola and Anthony Odemerho, who were accused of hacking into MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s system and stealing airtime and data valued at N1.9 billion.
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The Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police charged the two men with conspiracy, unauthorized access to MTN’s web-based Application Programming Interface (API), and unlawful conversion. The alleged crimes were committed between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo States.
Oluwabukola, a student at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and Odemerho, the proprietor of Resign Regal Academy in Benin City, Edo State, appeared before Justice Aluko, who ruled on separate bail applications filed by their defense lawyers.
The judge ordered that each defendant must provide two sureties. One surety must be a civil servant in either the federal or Lagos State civil service, holding a position of at least Grade Level 14.
The second surety must be a landed property owner within the court’s jurisdiction, and they must provide proof of ownership and swear to an affidavit of means.
Until the defendants meet their bail conditions, they are to be remanded in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS).
The prosecutor, Justine Enang, informed the court that the defendants, along with others still at large, conspired to access MTN’s API and used the data obtained to defraud the company of N1.9 billion.
He noted that the offenses violated sections 27(1)(b), 6(2), and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, and are punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act.
The offenses also breached Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and are punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
