Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Edouard Djogbénou
Published on 2024-03-27 09:01:41
An on-duty police officer at the Central Office for the Repression of Cybercrime (OCRC) appeared before the judge of the CRIET on Monday, March 25, 2024, to be questioned in connection with the case of an alleged cybercriminal.
The officer in uniform was summoned by the Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism to respond to the accusation of an alleged scammer.
According to information from Banouto, the defendant stated in court that his statement during the questioning at the Office had been tampered with and poorly written. He denied several elements recorded in the statement by the officer in charge of his questioning.
Specifically, he stated that he did not live in the house where the law enforcement officers had apprehended him. Furthermore, he told the court that the incriminated phone seized by the OCRC belonged to his deceased cousin and that he did not know the unlock code.
In court, the OCRC officer clearly stated that he was not part of the team that carried out the operation leading to the defendant’s arrest. He explained that he had simply questioned him.
In his deposition, he mentioned that five phones were seized in the evidence locker. Two were button phones and three were Android phones. Among the Android phones, only one was involved. The officer specified that this phone had a SIM card but was locked.
The police officer stated that it was the alleged cybercriminal himself who provided the code to unlock the phone. According to the officer, several people were arrested during the operation. Three of the defendant’s brothers were also questioned but later released.
The OCRC agent claimed that the defendant had been identified by his brothers as the person using the mobile phone of his deceased brother, despite his contrary statements.
According to the special prosecutor’s substitute, the alleged cybercriminal is attempting to manipulate the Court. He requested the judge to sentence him to five years in prison, with three years suspended, for “online fraud” and to pay a fine of one million FCFA.
The lawyers for the alleged cybercriminal pleaded for the complete acquittal of their client. They argued that the mere fact that their client provided the phone code does not make him the author of the cybercrime activities discovered on that phone. At the end of the proceedings, the Court postponed the deliberation to April 29, 2024.
Read the original article(French) on Benin Web TV
