SSS arrests man for cloning Gov Elechi phone number

By PETER OKUTU
ABAKALIKI—OPERATIVES of the State Security Services, SSS, in Ebonyi State, yesterday arrested one Ebube Mbonu for allegedly cloning Governor Martin Elechi’s phone number and using same to swindle top government officials of huge sums of money.

This came as five others, described as “notorious cable thieves” who specialized in stealing Nigeria Telecommunication Limited, NITEL, cables in Abakaliki, were also paraded at the headquarters of the state Command.

Parading the suspects, SSS’s Assistant Director Operations and Intelligence, Mr. Damian Ihejirika, said the suspect was rounded up after  investigation and monitoring of events surrounding his activities.

He pointed out that Mbonu had used the cloned Governor’s GSM number to send text messages to about 10 top government officials in the state, posing as Governor Elechi and telling his victims to pay the sum of N300,000 into his (Mbonu’s) Eco Bank account number, warning them to keep it confidential.

The SSS Director said the messages which were sent out a few days to the recent visit of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, to the state made some government officials to believe that the text messages

actually originated from the governor and out of fear of losing their jobs, proceeded to call the number indicated in the text messages for further directives.

Denying the accusation, Ebube said: “I got a call from my friend named Chinedu who had promised to help me get a contract from the state government to come to his house and when I got to the friend’s house members of the SSS arrested me. Some days before that, I got a text message from my telephone from the governor’s number, that a staff of his will contact me.

A few minutes later some people started calling me on the phone asking me to send them my account number that they have been directed to send me some money; I began to suspect that I might have been a victim of set up. The security officials are investigating it and I am hopeful they will get to the root of it.”

Parades five suspects for stealing NITEL cables

Similarly, SSS operatives arrested a five-man gang that specialised in vandalising and stealing telecommunications cables belonging to NITEL and other telecommunications companies in the country.