Witness chronicles content of 2410 mgs analysed in Naira Marley's iPhone
(Nigeria) A Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday, heard
that there were a total of 2410 messages analysed from the iPhone of Nigerian
musician, Azeez Fashola a.ka Naira Marley, who is charged with Cyber Crime.
A second prosecution witness, Mr Augustine Anosike, so
narrated how the messages as well as different credit card numbers were
extracted from the defendant's phone.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is
prosecuting Naira Marley on 11-counts of cyber fraud.
The anti-graft agency had on May 14, 2019, preferred the
charge against the defendant, bodering on conspiracy, possession of counterfeit
credit cards and fraud.
Fashola, who sang the popular song: “Am I a Yahoo Boy”, was
consequently, arraigned on May 20, 2019 before Justice Nicholas Oweibo,
but he pleaded not guilty.
The court had granted him bail in the sum of two million
naira, with two sureties in like sum.
Trial had since commenced in the case and the second
prosecution witness who began his testimony shortly before the covid 19
lockdown in 2020, continued his evidence on Tuesday.
Led in evidence by the prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, who examined
him on exhibit F, the witness first confirmed to the court that the said
exhibit F was a conclusion of his analysis of the iPhone of the defendant.
He told the court that the device analysed is an iPhone X
version 10.6, Model A 1901, with number 07427343432 and an email:
naimarley@icloud.com.
The witness also gave the IMEL number of the phone as:
35304509527532 as well as the SIM ICCID number as 8923420035948359826.
According to him,the apple iPhone is a sophisticated device
capable of storing a large volume of information. adding that it is the sim
card that basically identifies users of applications like WhatsApp.
He, however, told the court that so far as a number has
already been registered with a particular WhatsApp account, it matters less if
such user leaves the country.
The witness noted that there are cases where a WhatsApp
application can still be used even though the registered sim card is not
inserted in the phone, adding that the chatting app used in the analysed device
was WhatsApp.
He told the court that from the iPhone analysed,, they
discovered a total of 977 Short Message Service (SMS) and 1433 chat messages,
adding that there were also seven pending status update messages.
The witness told the court that on Nov. 26, 2018, there was
an outgoing message registered at about 3.32 p.m. with a credit card number
5264711020433662.
He said that this message was sent to one Yadd.
According to him, on Dec. 11, 2018, there was an
incoming message to the defendant's device which read: " Your One Time
Passcode (OTP) to verify your mobile number is 248716; wasn't you, please call
us on 63450808500."
He said that on same day, it was discovered that another
message was sent at 5.06pm by one Hiya Bayi, to a recipient with the name Raze,
adding that the content of the text was another credit card number
42658840359132.
He gave the numbers of the sender and receipient as
+447426343432 and +447365280441 respectively.
The witness told the court that the incoming message
reflected at 6.18 pm. showed " Not recognised"
According to him, other messages received on same date
include : " due to try in 20 minutes,"
He told the court that on December 12, 2018, at 10.16 p.m, there was an incoming message
which read "Tried and it was unsuccessful; sure you are not rinsing it out
then giving it to me to try."
The witness also read out a plethora of other credit card
numbers sent on different dates tand time, as well as OTP codes sent .
After his testimony, the prosecutor then informed the court
that all the analysed texts were fully contained in a Compact Disc (CD) but
that the prosecution had only printed out those portions which were material to
its case.
He then sought for the opinion of the court and defence , if
the prosecution was at liberty to bring a projector for the purpose of playing
the CD in the open court, in order to fully discharge its burden.
This application was allowed by the court and also not
opposed by defence counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo, SAN.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo consequently, adjourned the case
until October 27, for projection of the CD.
According to the EFCC, the defendant committed the offences
on different dates between November 26, 2018, and December 11, 2018, as well as
May 10, 2019.
The commission alleged that Fashola and his accomplices
conspired to use different Access Bank ATM cards to defraud their victims.
It alleged that the defendant used a bank credit card issued
to another person, in a bid to obtain fraudulent financial gains.
The EFCC also said that the defendant possessed counterfeit
credit cards belonging to different people, with intent to defraud which
amounted to theft.
The alleged offences contravene the provisions of Sections 1 23 (1) (b), 27 (1) and 33(9) of Cyber Crime (Prohibition) Prevention Act, 2015
Comments
Post a Comment