A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday granted bail of N50 million each to two students, Timothy Oluwabukola from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Anthony Odemerho from Resign Regal Academy, who are accused of hacking into MTN Nigeria Communication’s computers and stealing airtime and data valued at N1.9 billion.
After reviewing two separate bail applications from the defendants, Justice Akintayo Aluko approved the bail.
He stipulated that each defendant must provide two sureties, one of whom must be a civil servant employed by the federal or Lagos State government, holding a position at grade level 14 or higher.
The second surety must own property within the court’s jurisdiction, provide proof of ownership, and submit an affidavit of means.
For the civil servant surety, a reference letter from their workplace and a letter regarding their last promotion are required, while the defendants must present two recent passport photos to the court registrar.
Justice Aluko also directed that the prosecution verify all documents submitted by the sureties, including their residential addresses.
The court ordered that the defendants be held in the Correctional Centre until their bail conditions are met.
Oluwabukola and Odemerho were arraigned on July 30, 2024, by the Police Special Fraud Unit, facing four charges related to conspiracy, unauthorized access to the company’s web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface, and unlawful conversion.
Prosecution counsel Justine Enang stated that the accused committed the alleged crimes with others who remain at large.
The defendants, both said to be students from Ogun State and Edo State respectively, reportedly hacked into MTN’s system and stole airtime and data between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo States.
According to the prosecutor, their actions violated Sections 27(1)(b), 6(2), and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, which are punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act.
Additionally, 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 that Act.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following their plea, the prosecutor asked the court to set a trial date and requested that the defendants be held in custody until the case is resolved.
However, the defense attorney informed the court that he had already filed two bail applications, which had been served to the prosecutor.
The prosecutor confirmed he received the applications during the proceedings and requested a short adjournment to review them.
As a result, Justice Aluko postponed the case to August 5, 2024, for a hearing on the defendants’ bail applications.
