The Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced six Chinese nationals to one year imprisonment each for cyber-terrorism and internet fraud.
Justices D. I. Dipeolu and A. O. Faji handed down the sentences following the defendants’ change of plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” during a court sitting on Monday, June 23, 2025.
The convicts — Jia You (a.k.a. A. You), Wang Zheng Feng (a.k.a. Feng), Liu San Hua, Chen Wen Yuan, Liu Beixing, and Wen Zong Xu (a.k.a. Li Long) — were among 792 suspects arrested in Lagos on December 19, 2024, during a sting operation codenamed Eagle Flush, conducted by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They were arraigned in February 2025 by the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 on separate charges of cyber-terrorism and internet fraud.
One of the charges against them stated: “That you LUO JIA YOU (a.k.a A. YOU) sometime in December 2024 at Lagos, Nigeria, willfully accessed computer systems used for the purpose of destabilizing and destroying the economy and social structure of Nigeria…” — an offence under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2024), and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Following their guilty pleas, prosecution counsel Babatunde Sonoiki, U. S. Kyari, and B. M. Isah urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants.
Each convict was sentenced to one year imprisonment, effective from their date of arrest on December 10, 2024, and fined ₦1,000,000. Additionally, the court ordered that the Comptroller General of Immigration ensure their deportation to China within seven days of completing their jail terms.
Devices including mobile phones, laptops, and routers recovered during the operation were forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
