Six Chinese have been found guilty of cyberterrorism and internet fraud and given one-year prison sentences by Justices D. I. Dipeolu and A. O. Faji of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The convicts are JIA You (a.k.a A. You), Wang Zheng Feng (a.k.a.Feng), Liu San Hua, Chen Wen yuan, LIU BEIXING, and WEN ZONG XU (http://a.k.a.LI LONG).
According to an EFCC statement, the defendants are part of a syndicate of 792 suspected cryptocurrency investment and romance fraud suspects who were apprehended in Lagos on December 19, 2024, during a sting operation known as the “Eagle Flush Operation.”
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, subsequently arraigned them on separate count charges of cyber-terrorism and internet fraud in February 2025.
Among the charges, one reads: “That you LUO JIA YOU (a.k.a A. YOU) sometimes in December 2024 at Lagos, Nigeria within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, willfully caused to be accessed, computer systems used for the purpose of destabilizing and destroying the economy and social structure of Nigeria and you hereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as Amended, 2024) and Section 2(3) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022”.
When the charges were first read to them, they entered a “not guilty” plea. They did, however, alter their “not guilty plea” to “guilty” during the sitting on Monday, June 23, 2025.
The prosecution’s attorneys, Babatunde Sonoiki, U. S. Kyari, and B. M. Isah, respectively, prayed the court to convict and sentence them in accordance with their pleas.
As a result, the court found the defendants guilty and sentenced them to one year in prison, beginning on the date of their arrest on December 10, 2025, along with a N1,000,000 (one million naira) fine per defendant.
The judge also directed the Comptroller General of Immigration to make sure they were returned to their home country within seven days of serving their prison term.
The mobile phones, computers, laptops, and routers seized from them at the time of arrest were ordered forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
