Nigerian prison scam: Head of high-security jail arrested after $1m fraud

Hope Olusegun Aroke is serving a 24-year prison sentence

The head of a maximum-security jail and a prison doctor have been arrested in Nigeria, following allegations that they enabled a prisoner to conduct internet scams.

Hope Olusegun Aroke carried out a million-dollar fraud while serving a 24-year jail sentence - for fraud.

He had access to a mobile phone and the internet.

He was originally arrested in 2012 and convicted of obtaining money under false pretences and forgery.

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The country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the two prison staff were arrested for falsifying medical reports that enabled Aroke to get treatment outside prison in a police hospital.

"The first suspect, [Emmanuel] Oluwaniyi, who is the Controller, Kirikiri Maximum Prison, as well as the second suspect, [Hemeson Edson] Edwin, who is in charge of the medical facility, were arrested on Monday, November 25, 2019, by operatives of the commission," the EFCC said in a statement.

Aroke was one of two Malaysia-based Nigerian undergraduate fraudsters arrested by the EFCC towards the end of 2012 in Lagos, following a tip-off, the commission added.

He had claimed to be a student of computer science at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, but was in fact the "arrow head of an intricate web of internet fraud schemes that traverse two continents", it said.

He used a network of accomplices to commit the fraud, it added.

After getting himself admitted to a police hospital, authorities say Aroke moved to a hotel, receiving guests and attending parties.

He had used the fictitious name Akinwunmi Sorinmade to open two bank accounts and bought a luxury car and homes during his time in prison.