Two men, Usman Garuba, 28, and Sagir Shuaib, 30, were arraigned before the Ogba Magistrate Court in Lagos for allegedly posing as Bureau De Change operators and defrauding a traveller of over N16 million at Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
The two defendants were accused of deceiving a traveller, Ali Kelvin, by claiming they could exchange Chinese yuan for Nigerian naira. According to police investigators, the incident occurred on March 26, 2025, around 5 p.m., when Garuba and Shuaib allegedly approached Kelvin at the airport under the guise of being currency exchange agents. Kelvin handed them 90,000 Chinese RMB—worth approximately N16,650,000—but never received the naira equivalent.
Following a complaint filed by the victim, police at the Airport Division launched an investigation and later arrested the suspects. During interrogation, both Garuba and Shuaib reportedly confessed to having collected the money. They admitted they had already spent it and were unable to refund the victim.
They were subsequently charged with conspiracy, obtaining money under false pretenses, and stealing. The court heard that they acted with two others who are currently at large.
In the first count, the defendants were charged with conspiring to commit a felony involving obtaining money by false pretenses and stealing, an offense punishable under Section 325(1) of the Lagos State Criminal Law. The second charge alleged that they fraudulently obtained 90,000 Chinese RMB from Kelvin under the promise of exchanging it, which they failed to do—an act contrary to Section 314 and punishable under Section 314(3). The third charge accused them of stealing the foreign currency, also punishable under Section 287.
Garuba and Shuaib pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Inspector Adeitan Oluwabunmi, the police prosecutor, requested that the court fix a date for hearing, stating that the prosecution was prepared to present evidence to establish the defendants’ culpability.
Magistrate M.A. Agbaje granted the defendants bail with conditions requiring sureties who must present verifiable means of livelihood and proof of tax payments. The court also ordered that the sureties’ addresses be confirmed before the defendants could be released.
In the meantime, the accused were remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending the fulfilment of their bail conditions. The case was adjourned for mention.
