Jonathan Nwokpor
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On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, found eight Filipinos guilty of cyberterrorism and internet fraud and sentenced them to one year in jail each.
Mae Eribal, Mary Grace Dela Cruz, Jamal Polea, Tricia Castro, Rai Camara, Cherry De Leon, Danica Jarapan, and Beverlyn Casino are among the prisoners.
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, arraigned them on Tuesday on several counts of possessing false documents.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Beverlyn Casino sometime in December 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, willfully caused to be accessed, computer systems organized to seriously destabilize and destroy the fundamental economic and social structure of Nigeria when you procured/employed Nigerian youths for identity theft and to hold themselves out as persons of foreign nationality, with the intent to gain a financial advantage for yourselves and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As amended 2024) and Section 2(3)(d) of the Terrorism (Prevention, Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
When the charges were read to them, they all entered “guilty” pleas.
N.K. Ukoha, the prosecution’s attorney, asked the court to find the defendants guilty as charged in light of their pleas.
The defendants were found guilty by Justice Owoeye, who also fined them N1,000,000.00 (one million naira) and sentenced them to one year in prison each.
The judge also directed the Nigeria Immigration Service’s Comptroller-General (NIS) to make sure that, within seven days of serving their sentences, the convicted individuals are returned to their home countries.
Additionally, the Federal Government of Nigeria was ordered to surrender the gadgets that were found on the defendants.
The EFCC’s arrest of the convicts for cyber-terrorism and internet fraud marked the start of their journey to the Correctional Center. They are one of the 792 suspects who were apprehended in Victoria Island, Lagos, in December 2024. They were imprisoned and charged in court.
See their photos below:
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