The Airport Police Command in Lagos has arrested a 20-year-old suspect, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, over his alleged involvement in a large-scale romance and celebrity fraud that reportedly defrauded victims in the United States of more than N1 billion.
The arrest was disclosed in a statement issued on Tuesday, 6 January 2026, by the Police Public Relations Officer of the Airport Police Command, ASP Mohammed Adeola. Akpama was apprehended on 5 January 2026 by operatives of the Anti-Fraud Unit while attempting to board a flight out of Lagos State.
According to the police, the arrest followed months of intelligence-led surveillance and monitoring based on credible information. Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, who previously resided in Calabar, relocated to Lagos on 23 February 2024, from where he allegedly coordinated and executed several fraudulent schemes.
The statement noted that Akpama is accused of defrauding multiple victims in the United States of over N1,000,000,000, an amount estimated at more than one million U.S. dollars. In one highlighted case, he allegedly deceived a 47-year-old female victim into transferring one million U.S. dollars under the guise of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage, using a cryptocurrency scheme known as “BullRun 2.0,” formerly called “4 Way Mirror Money.”
In another alleged scheme, Akpama reportedly defrauded a 70-year-old U.S. victim of N25,709,400 (approximately $18,000) through the purchase of gift cards, high-end mobile phones, and computer equipment. These items were allegedly shipped to Nigeria at his direction.
Items recovered in connection with the case include a MacBook Pro 14-inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and three Google Pixel devices, with a combined estimated value of N8,141,367. Investigators said the suspect posed as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria, claiming the devices were required for secure communication with his victims.
The case has since been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit (NPF-SFU) for further investigation, and the suspect will be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of investigations.
Reacting to the arrest, the Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, CP Ogunbode Olufunke, reaffirmed the Command’s commitment to preventing criminal elements from exploiting airport corridors to evade justice. She emphasized that intelligence-driven operations would continue to detect, disrupt, and dismantle criminal networks operating within Nigeria’s aviation ecosystem.
The arrest comes amid intensified efforts by security agencies at Nigerian airports to combat transnational crimes. In recent months, authorities have recorded several high-profile interceptions, including the seizure of undeclared foreign currencies worth about N2.28 billion from an Austrian national at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in December 2025, as well as other significant currency seizures at airports in Kano and Lagos. These operations, according to security officials, underscore ongoing efforts to curb financial crimes and protect the integrity of Nigeria’s aviation corridors.
