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Nigeria deports 50 Chinese nationals in cybercrime crackdown

Nigeria deports 50 Chinese nationals in cybercrime crackdown

The Star11 hours ago
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria has deported 50 Chinese nationals and one Tunisian convicted of cyber-terrorism and internet fraud as part of a crackdown on foreign-led cybercrime networks, the country's anti-graft agency said on Thursday.
Since the clampdown was launched on August 15 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in partnership with the immigration service, 102 people have now been deported, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale said in a statement.
The Tunisian and Chinese citizens were among nearly 200 foreign nationals arrested in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, during a raid targeting one of the largest cybercrime syndicates in the country, Oyewale said.
Late last year, the EFCC arrested almost 800 people in a building in Lagos believed to be a hub for fraudsters who lured victims with offers of romance, then pressed them to hand over cash for phoney cryptocurrency investments.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo;Editing by Helen Popper)
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