Hacking Saga: Students Arraigned for N1.9bn MTN Hack
A Federal High Court in Lagos has arraigned two students, Timothy Oluwabukola and Anthony Odemerho, for allegedly hacking into MTN Nigeria Communication Plc’s computers and stealing airtime and data worth N1.9bn. The students, who are suspected to be from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Resign Regal Academy, were arraigned on Tuesday and are facing four counts bordering on conspiracy, unauthorized access, and unlawful conversion.
Prosecutor Justine Enang told the court that the defendants, along with others now at large, carried out the alleged hackings sometime between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states. Enang revealed that the defendants conspired and accessed MTN’s Application Programming Interface (API), obtaining data from the application, which they used to fraud the company to the tune of N1.9bn.
The offenses allegedly committed contravene 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 actions also contravene Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, prompting the prosecutor to request a trial date and remand the students in a correctional centre until the determination of the charge. The defense lawyers informed the court that they had filed their clients’ bail applications and had served the prosecutor.
The case has been adjourned till August 5, 2024, for a hearing on the bail applications.
