Two Cameroonians were arrested in Pampanga for allegedly defrauding a South Korean national of ₱42 million worth of cryptocurrency, the National Bureau of Investigation reported on Thursday, Nov. 27.
The suspects were identified as Vitalys Awa Njinwa, also known as Johnson Brown, and Pensiga Derick Sama, also known as Stephane Andre Obame.
The arrests were carried out on November 20 during an entrapment operation led by the NBI Pampanga District Office (NBI-PAMDO), in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Clark Development Corporation-Public Safety Division (CDC-PSD).
Following the operation, the suspects were presented for inquest before the City Prosecutor’s Office in Mabalacat, Pampanga on charges of robbery/extortion and estafa.
According to the NBI, the case stemmed from a complaint filed by a South Korean national who claimed he was defrauded of 731,750 USDT (cryptocurrency), equivalent to approximately ₱42,441,500, in connection with a supposed gold transport operation from Nairobi, Kenya, to Incheon, South Korea.
The complaint stated that “the amount represented alleged fees for customs processing, cargo insurance, warehouse charges, and other fabricated expenses.”
The suspects provided fraudulent documents, including falsified landing permits and air waybills, videos and photographs of the supposed gold bars to convince that the gold had been shipped and was being held by the Bureau of Customs-Port of Clark in Pampanga.
During the investigation, the NBI said that “the Bureau of Customs-Port of Clark certified that the Airway Bill presented by the subjects as proof of the gold shipment was not registered in the Bureau of Customs’ Electronic-to-Mobile (E2M) System and had no record of arrival at the Port of Clark International Airport.”
The complainant also claimed that the suspects threatened that the gold would not be shipped unless the complainant paid an additional $1,000,000 or equivalent to around P58,000,000 “as a bribe for the chief of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Clark.”
“Realizing that he had been defrauded, the complainant sought assistance from NBI-PAMDO which launched an entrapment operation,” the NBI said. (Jeffrey Damicog)
