Abuja, Jan. 16, 2026 (NAN) The police on Friday arraigned a 20-year-old welder, Praise Benjamin, before a Life Camp Chief Magistrates’ Court in Abuja for allegedly swindling a Point of Sale (POS) operator of N250,000.
The police charged Benjamin, who resides at Old Karmo, Abuja, with criminal conspiracy and cheating.
The police prosecutor, Charity Nwachukwu, told the court that the complainant, Mrs Augustine Grace of Zang, behind EFAB Estate, Life Camp, Abuja, reported the matter at the Life Camp Police Station on Dec. 17, 2025.
Nwachukwu said that on Dec. 13, 2025, the defendant and one other person, now at large, visited the complainant’s POS shop and asked if she had N200,000 in cash, which she confirmed.
She added that the defendant and his accomplice initially left, but the defendant later returned on a motorcycle and deceitfully persuaded the complainant to follow him, claiming that his customer needed cash.
The prosecutor said the defendant led the complainant to a site where his other accomplices collected N250,000 from the complainant and absconded.
Nwachukwu said that when the complainant demanded her money, the defendant denied knowing the persons who collected it.
She added that all efforts to recover the money proved abortive, and the offence contravened Sections 95 and 322 of the Penal Code.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The Magistrate, Musa Jobbo, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N500,000 with one surety in like sum.
Jobbo ordered that the surety must reside within the court’s jurisdiction and should provide a reliable means of identification.
The case was adjourned until Jan. 29 for hearing. (NAN)
