Court jails two Chinese 46 years for cybercrime in Lagos

Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday convicted and sentenced two Chinese nationals, Huang Haoyu and An Hongxu, to 46 years’ imprisonment each for cyber terrorism and internet fraud.

The convicts, alongside one Friday Audu, were part of a syndicate of 792 suspected fraudsters arrested on December 19, 2024, in Lagos during a surprise sting operation tagged “Eagle Flush Operation” by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Investigations showed that Friday allegedly incorporated Genting International Co. Ltd. on the directive of Huang Haoyu to facilitate the fraudulent operation. The defendants were also found to have recruited and used Nigerian youths to falsely pose as foreign nationals to defraud unsuspecting victims through online platforms.

They were arraigned alongside Genting International Co. Ltd. by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the EFCC on a seven-count charge bordering on cyber terrorism, internet fraud and money laundering involving N3,407,824,740.78 and $2,562,203.

One of the charges stated: “That you, Huang Haoyu, a.k.a Ken, Audu Friday, An Hongxu, Duliang Pan (at large) and Genting International Co. Ltd, sometime in 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, conspired to willfully cause to be accessed, computer systems organised to seriously destabilise the economic and social structure of Nigeria (which prohibits and prevents cyber and related crimes) when you, with intent to gain a financial advantage for yourselves and cronies, procured and or employed Nigerian youths to falsely represent themselves as persons of foreign nationalities, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 (As Amended, 2024) and punishable under Section 18 of the same Act”.

The defendants initially pleaded “not guilty” to the charges. However, at the resumed hearing on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, counsel to the first and third defendants, Bridget Omateno, informed the court that they wished to change their pleas from “not guilty” to “guilty.” When the charges were re-read, Haoyu and Hongxu pleaded “guilty,” while Audu maintained his “not guilty” plea.

Following their guilty pleas, prosecution counsel Bilikisu Bala-Buhari told the court that two witnesses had earlier testified before the plea change. She urged the court to impose the maximum punishment of life imprisonment on counts one to three and 14 years’ imprisonment on counts four to seven.

The prosecution also requested the forfeiture of all items recovered from four properties listed in the charge to the Federal Government of Nigeria. The items include 1,596 mobile phones, 2,120 office chairs, 544 office tables, 194 routers, 43 computer systems, a network server, 126 air-conditioning units, generators, vehicles, hundreds of mattresses and bunk beds, thousands of SIM cards, and other electronic and household items recovered from properties on Oyin Jolayemi Street, Bishop Oluwole Street, A.J. Marinho Drive, and Modupe Alakija Crescent in Victoria Island and Ikoyi.

Vanguard News

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