A Federal High Court in Lagos granted bail of N50 million each to two students namely Timothy Oluwabukola and Anthony Odemerho who were accused of hacking into MTN Nigeria Communication's computers and stealing airtime and data valued at N1.9 billion.
Justice Akintayo Aluko approved the bail after reviewing separate applications from the defendants. He mandated that each defendant must provide two sureties of which one surety must be a civil servant at the federal or Lagos State level with a grade of 14 or higher, while the second surety must own land within the court's jurisdiction and provide proof of ownership along with an affidavit of means.
Oluwabukola and Odemerho were arraigned on July 30, 2024 by the Police Special Fraud Unit over four counts related to conspiracy, unauthorized access to the company's web-based platform and unlawful conversion.
The police prosecution counsel, Justine Enang stated that the defendants allegedly committed the offenses between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo States.
The prosecutor indicated that the defendants, along with accomplices who remain at large, hacked into MTN's Application Programming Interface, leading to the theft of N1.9 billion worth of airtime and data. These actions violate several sections of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges after which the prosecutor requested a trial date and asked for the defendants to be held in custody until the case is resolved.
The defense attorney informed the court about the filed bail applications, which the prosecutor confirmed receiving during the proceedings.
Justice Aluko adjourned the case to August 5, 2024, for a hearing on the bail applications.
