The Dubai Police have disclosed more information on the arrest of one of Nigeria’s Instagram celebrities, Hushpuppi.

In a video shared by the police, officers explained how they arrested the gang leader, Raymond Abbas better known as Hushpuppi, and his eleven other accomplices.

The Police stated that the operation tagged “Fox Hunt 2” was focused on arresting suspects for crimes committed outside the UAE, including money laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, impersonation, scamming individuals, banking fraud and identity theft.

According to Major-General Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, assistant commander-in-chief for Criminal Investigation, Hushpuppi and his accomplices were caught in a series of synchronised raids by Dubai’s ‘Six SWAT teams’.

“The operation was carried out in a highly professional manner in terms of planning and execution as well as setting a zero hour to take down all gang members in the same time,” Al Mansouri said.

.@DubaiPoliceHQ take down "Hushpuppi", "Woodberry", ten international cybercriminals in a special operation dubbed "Fox Hunt 2" pic.twitter.com/SGwhxDWrE8

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) June 25, 2020

Al Mansouri said the operation foiled the gang’s bid to deceive many people from around the world and steal their money. He also lauded the efforts of the task force assigned to the case. “The investigation teams have done a great job in utilising AI-based technologies, including the Criminal Data Analysis Centre, to track down the cyber fraudsters,” Al Mansouri said.

Details of The Arrest

Brigadier Jamal Salem Al Jallaf, director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said that upon receiving the security intel about an African gang involved in money-laundering and cyber fraud, an investigation team was formed.

“After verifying available information, the team started to track the gang including “Hushpuppi”, who celebrated his wealth via social media platform, under the disguise of a businessman, in an attempt to lure victims from all over the world,” Al Jallaf said.

Al Jallaf said the anti-cybercrime task force was able to track the gang members and detect their criminal activities including creating fake accounts on social media and hacking corporate emails to trick clients into making money transfers to the gang’s bank accounts.

“The suspects also targeted victims overseas by creating fake websites for well-known companies and banks in a bid to steal victims’ credit card information and then launder the stolen money,” Al Jallaf continued.

He said the raid resulted in confiscating incriminating documents of a planned fraud on a global scale worth Dh1.6 billion ($435 million).

“The team also seized more than Dh150 million in cash, 13 luxury cars with an estimated value of Dh25 million obtained from fraud crimes, and confiscated 21 computer devices, 47 smartphones, 15 memory sticks, five hard disks containing 119,580 fraud files as well as addresses of 1.926 victims,” he said.

After conducting further investigations and analysing confiscated electronic devices, the investigators uncovered sensitive information on individuals and companies overseas including bank accounts and fake credit cards as well as documents and files condemning the gangs’ illegal activities.