Lagos court jails 9 Chinese nationals one year each, bringing to 26 the number of Chinese convicted for crime in Nigeria within three weeks
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A Lagos court has sentenced nine Chinese nationals to one year imprisonment each for operating a Ponzi scheme linked to terrorism financing, bringing to 26 the number of Chinese convicted for crime in Nigeria in the past three weeks.
All the 26 are to be deported back to China after serving out their jail terms, the courts ruled.
The Ponzi scheme was discovered on Victoria Island, Lagos in December 2024.
The convicts – Qin Xiao Yong, Luo Mao Yang, Liu Ni Ni, Liu Gang, Sun Qi (also known as Wan Jin Ping), Zhang Juan, Li De Wen, Fun Min, and Tan Ming – were prosecuted at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Judge Daniel Osiagor gave the verdict on Monday after prosecution counsel Abdulrasheed Rildwan presented a plea bargain agreement reached with the convicts and approved by the EFCC.
Defence lawyers Folarin Dalmeida and Abdulkadir Wodi confirmed the agreement and urged the court to adopt it as a judgment.
Osiagor upheld the plea bargain, sentencing each convict to one year in prison.
He also ordered the forfeiture of all electronic devices recovered during the investigation and imposed a fine of N1 million on each convict.
The court directed the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to deport the convicts to China within seven days of completing their jail terms.
Last month, the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos jailed 17 Chinese men one year each for cyberterrorism and internet fraud in a case filed by the EFCC.
They received the sentences after a plea bargain agreement.
The convicts are Yu Hui (also known as A. Bin), Huang Jin Hui, Fei Fan, Lu Qiang, Hu Xi Zheng, Sun Zhi Peng, Wu Hao, Cong Bing, Li Qiang (a.k.a Yang Huan Huan), Zheng Wei (also known as A. Hong), Cheng Jian, Da Tou, A Wen, Zhang Lei, Huang Zhi, Pan Jiong, and Chen Wen Yuan.
They were part of 792 cybercriminal suspects arrested in a sting operation codenamed “Eagle Flush Operation” which the EFCC carried out in Lagos on 19 December 2024.
Each defendant was arraigned separately in February 2025 on a one-count charge of accessing computer systems for the purpose of destabilising and damaging Nigeria’s economy and social structure, which violates Section 18(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015.
Initially, all defendants pleaded not guilty but changed their plea to guilty during proceedings.
The court sentenced each convict to one year imprisonment effective from the date of arrest, 10 December 2024, with a fine of N1 million each.
It also ordered the NIS to repatriate all 17 convicts to China within seven days of the judgment.
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