Two Nigerians, Gbemisola Akinrinade and Adebowale Adiatu,have been arrested by Canadain authorities for allegedly enriching themselves with the proceeds from the sales of valid flight tickets to unsuspecting customers.
Canada Today reports that the suspects fraudulently sold more than 250 airline tickets at a value of more than $500,000 in the racket scheme.
The majority of the customers who purchased the tickets were from the Calgary area and the flights were primarily to Africa, a press release by the Peel Regional Police on January 26, 2023, stated.
The suspects are facing charges which include fraud, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession of property obtained by crime, obtaining by false pretences, and unlawful use of a computer.
According to the police authorities, in many fraud-related cases, people in vulnerable situations are coerced, manipulated and taken advantage of for the profit of the fraudster.
However, they urged individuals to properly source the website they are dealing with and verify its legitimacy.
FG loses N116.8m over Abuja-Kaduna, Warri-Itakpe railway suspension
About N116.8m has been lost by the Federal Government since the suspension of the Abuja/Kaduna and Warri-Itakpe train services this month
A research by The PUNCH showed that the Federal Government has lost about N28.8m in terms of revenue in the last two days on the Abuja
Kaduna route and N88m on the Warri-Itakpe route in the last eight days.
The coaches in the train which operate on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line have the passenger capacity of about 900/1000 passengers per trip.
According to findings, the Abuja/Kaduna rail services record four trips per day while the Warri-Itakpe records two per day.
Before the suspension of the train services, an average economy ticket sold for N3600, business class N6,500 while the VIP ticket sold for N9,000.
A breakdown of the daily ticket by our correspondent showed that NRC records a minimum of N3.6m per trip for a train conveying 1,000 passengers at ticket price of N3,600 on the Abuja-Kaduna route while N5.5m on the Warri-Itakpe route.
Further breakdown shows that the sum of about N14.4m was recorded for four trips daily on the Abuja-Kaduna train and Warri-Itakpe recorded N11m for two trips daily.
The suspension of the train operations on the Abuja-Kaduna route was due to the derailment of the train on Friday at the Kubwa station.
The Abuja-Kaduna train resumed operations December 5, 2022 after eight months of suspension due to terrorist’s attack on the rail lines.
Similarly, the Edo train service was suspended as a result of the derailment of the Warri Itakpe train WITS 01 at Km 30 Ajaokuta-Itakpe section of the track.
The Coordinator, Warri Itakpe Train Service, Sanni Abdulganiyu, told The PUNCH that the cause of the derailment was yet to be ascertained, noting that all the 148 passengers and 30 crew members were successfully evacuated.
The derailment on the Warri-Itakpe train was coming barely two weeks after gunmen abducted passengers waiting to board a train from the Igueben station in Igueben Local Government Area of Edo State to Warri in Delta State.
