Man arrested for hypnotizing, duping teenager
By Felix Kuyinu
The Police at Ejigbo Division have made au arrest of a man who allegedly hypnotized and duped an 18-year old girl of the sum of N28,000
The victim, Reyner Udopi, said that the suspect, simply identified as John and his accomplices trailed her to the Guarantee Trust Bank branch, Jakande Estate, Ejigbo where she went to make withdrawal for the day’s business activities.
Udopi said that John met her at the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) of the bank and began to have utterances with her.
She narrated, “On January 21, I went to GT Bank to withdraw the money which I paid into my account after making sales. I met John who approached me and I stopped to see how I could help him. He told me that he was looking for a place called White Soil. I told him that he was far from the place, and I gave him the direction to the place. As I turned to leave, he called me again and said he was very sorry to disturb me. He said that he came from Cotonou, Benin Republic and was in Nigeria for business and wanted someone to help him to sell his goods. The man told me that last time he brought goods to Nigeria, a woman he met duped him and he lost money.
“He said I should go with him to the White Soil where his partner was waiting for him with his goods. I don’t know what happened to me, and I went with him to the place with the money I withdrew from the bank for my office. When we got there to an uncompleted building, he asked me to wait for him and I spent over one hour waiting for him. He came back with another person who said that his name was David. David told me that he was working for President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State.
“He said they have chemicals for washing of foreign currencies and they showed me some of the dollars they had washed. All that time, I was not myself because I was looking at them, without saying anything or challenging them until they finished with me. John collected the money with me and gave David to go and buy more chemicals because the one they had was not enough.
“A few minutes later, David came back with small bottles contenting liquid. As they were mixing cut papers with the chemical, someone came to the place. They greeted him and said he was a foreigner. The foreigner said we must take oath, because people are wicked and not to be trusted. He gave us something to put in our mouths and I still participated in the oath taking.
“He said that anybody who exposed the deal would die. The foreigner looked at me and said that the chemical had entered my body. He said I would die within 30 minutes because the chemical touched my skin. David and John told the foreigner to save me from drying. The foreigner said that I should buy salt and quickly go to Cele bus stop. He said I should give the salt to a madman, which I did.”
Udopi said that when she got back to the uncompleted building she did not see any of them again.
She continued, “I called John on phone. He told me that he was with the foreigner. I didn’t see them again until the day I was able to see John at one filling station at Ejigbo area of Lagos.”
When Udopi saw John, she raised the alarm. According to her, he was dragged by passers-by to the Police Division at Ejigbo where he pleaded for mercy.
The Police stated that the matter would be treated accordingly and would be referred to the court for trial.
