the operation was conducted between August 14 and 15, following intelligence gathered by the command’s Intelligence Departmen
By Frank Ulom
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Published on August 20, 2026
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3 min read
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Cross River State Command, has rescued 42 persons and arrested suspected members of an alleged transnational criminal syndicate operating under the guise of a multi-level marketing business in Calabar.
The State Commandant, CC Okarazu Chima Eke, disclosed this while parading the rescued persons and suspects before journalists at the command headquarters on Murtala Mohammed Highway, Calabar.
Eke said the operation was conducted between August 14 and 15, following intelligence gathered by the command’s Intelligence Department, which led operatives to a five-bedroom facility allegedly being used as a holding and indoctrination centre.
According to him, the persons found at the facility, aged between 22 and 36, comprised 28 Nigerian males, six Nigerian females, five Cameroonian nationals and three Beninese nationals.
He alleged that the syndicate targeted young people with purported employment opportunities in countries including South Africa, Malaysia and Côte d’Ivoire, before demanding millions of naira for visas and international documentation.
CC Okarazu Chima Eke said, “The level of deceit employed by this syndicate is alarming,” noting that after payments were made, the promised foreign employment was abandoned and some victims were instead introduced to what he described as an illegal pyramid-style marketing arrangement.
He said participants were allegedly required to recruit at least two other people to recover money they had paid, while products reportedly described as “biodics and jewellery” were allegedly not physically seen by some of the victims interviewed.
Eke said the eight foreign nationals were allegedly found without valid international travel documents and that the command was collaborating with the Nigeria Immigration Service to establish their identities and immigration status.
The commandant further disclosed that operatives tracked and arrested the alleged prime cell leader, identified as Timothy Bayi, an indigene of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
The State Commandant maintained that, Mr. Bayi had mentioned an alleged affiliation with a major service compliance and logistics company headquartered in Lagos, but the NSCDC was still investigating the claim, stressing “We are currently verifying the nature and extent of this claim.”
He said the investigation would be expanded to identify other individuals allegedly connected to the network, irrespective of their positions within the organisation.
Eke warned job seekers and parents against unverified foreign employment offers, get-rich-quick schemes and arrangements requiring substantial payments before purported recruitment or international travel.
Warning that “There is no shortcut to wealth,” Eke said the NSCDC was collaborating with relevant security and law-enforcement agencies and would ensure that suspects were prosecuted before a competent court after investigations.
When interviewed, Bayi denied that the company he claimed to represent promised anyone employment abroad, saying he was introduced to the business by a friend and had been involved in it for about two years.
“The company does not promise anybody to travel abroad. The company doesn’t issue a travel document or promise any job abroad,” he said, claiming that the business, as he understood it, involved online product marketing and payment of commissions and that recruiting people for overseas employment was contrary to the company’s stated policy.
A rescued victim, Ogama, from Benue State, however, gave a different account.
He said a friend offered him a job in the United Kingdom and that he subsequently underwent an online interview through WhatsApp before being informed that he had passed.
Ogama said his family raised about N1 million for the purported travel documentation, but the promised journey did not materialise.
He lamented that, “After paying the money, they took us to the ground and made me understand that I was no more travelling to the UK,” he said, and that he remained at the facility because he had no money to return home after the money provided by his relatives had been paid.
Another rescued person, Hamlet Ndiame, a Cameroonian, said he was introduced to the business by a friend and initially believed it was a network-marketing venture.
According to him, “The business is real, but the way they are doing it to bring people into the business is not the way they promised initially.”
Ndiame said he researched the organisation online but remained concerned about the alleged recruitment methods. He identified the company as QNET, stressing that his concern was mainly with how some people were allegedly recruited.
The NSCDC said investigations were continuing to determine the respective roles of those in custody and establish whether other individuals or organisations were involved in the alleged scheme.
