Travel agent turned Maltese citizenship fraudster jailed in Nigeria

A 50-year-old travel agent has been jailed for five years in Nigeria after defrauding a man who was trying to get his hands on a Maltese passport.

According to reports, Abiodun Sadiq was charged by Nigeria’s economic and financial crime commission with defrauding his victim of €40,000 while pretending to act as an agent of the Maltese government. 

Sadiq was found guilty of all charges brought against him, including fraud and forgery.

Prosecutors alleged that Sadiq forged a Maltese passport in the name of his victim Babatunde Emmanuel Babalola, under the pretence that it was a genuine passport issued by Malta’s passports office.

Testifying as a witness in the case, Babalola recalled how he was humiliated and “treated like a terrorist” upon landing in Europe and having his forged passport discovered.

Prosecutors alleged that Sadiq was found to have forged two other Maltese passports with the names Vincent Genesis Oyinlola and Vincent Olivia Ashinedun.