Police arrest 3 over fabrication of JAMB admission letters

The police have arrested three members of a syndicate that specialises in falsifying admission letters of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.

This was disclosed by the Police Force Public Relations Officer, Olumiyiwa Adejobi, on Thursday.

According to him, the three suspects were arrested in connection with the cases of conspiracy, computer-related forgery and system interference, contrary to sections 8, 13 and 27 of the Cybercrimes Act 2015, as amended.

The suspects are Effa Leonard Mpama, 34; Ibang Ernest Jerome, 38; and Eshiet Odotukana Benson, 38.

The three suspects, alongside other cohorts, intentionally planned and arranged services that would enable them to access JAMB’s restricted Central Admission Processing System, CAPS and e-facility illegally.

According to the police, they went on to change and delete other candidates’ previous admission letters and input fake details, leading to fake admission letters that were used to secure admissions into tertiary institutions and mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps programme, thereby compromising the entire JAMB admission process.

The statement reads: “Upon arrest, the suspects revealed their various degrees of involvement in the conspiracy, corroborating the already overwhelming evidence.

“The duo of Effa Leonard Mpama and Ibang Ernest Jerome and others at large collect personal details of the prospective candidates and forward same to Mr. Eshiet Odotukana Benson, who gets CAPS links from Daniel and Chris. Messrs. Daniel and Chris, still at large, are working in the JAMB Computer Based Test (CBT) Centres domiciled in FAN and UNICAL, respectively, in Calabar, Cross River State.

“In more developments, digital forensic analysis led to the recovery of four fake domains, websites and two principal threat actors of a syndicate in Imo State behind the creation of the fake domains and other associated websites operated by them.

“Similarly, the third suspect, Mr Eshiet, who has access to the CAPS links unlike the duo above, proceeds to any CBT centre and opens the JAMB e-facility with a login detail of a candidate with previous admission and thereafter superimposes the new details collected to create a fake admission letter.”

The PRO added that the suspects will be charged in court upon the conclusion of the investigation.