Recovering a Malian passport bearing the name Diakite Alfousseini.

The arrests, part of a broader weekend security sweep across Ogun that also produced a kidnap rescue and an armed robbery arrest, point to a fraud and immigration operation the police say was running out of an estate off Iyana Iyesi, Onipanu-Ota. The case is now split between two agencies, with most suspects headed to immigration authorities and two facing criminal prosecution.

Police moved on the property at about 11 a.m. on August 4, according to DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, the Ogun State Police Command's spokesperson, who confirmed the operation in a statement issued Monday, August 10, 2026, in Abeokuta. Babaseyi said operatives acted on credible information concerning activities allegedly taking place at the premises, then secured the building before taking the 23 foreign nationals into custody for questioning and further investigation.

Among the items recovered was a single Malian passport in the name Diakite Alfousseini, which Babaseyi cited specifically in his statement as evidence collected during the raid.

Of the 23 detained, 21 were formally handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service on August 5, 2026, for further immigration-related investigation and appropriate action. The remaining two were kept by police for prosecution in connection with Obtaining by False Pretence (OBT) and other related offences, pending the outcome of the wider investigation.

Babaseyi did not name the two suspects retained for prosecution, nor did he specify the nationalities of the 23 arrested beyond describing them as foreign nationals. He also did not detail the alleged Ponzi or visa-fraud scheme's scale, victim count, or financial losses, gaps that leave the core of the allegation, what exactly the group is accused of doing to defraud people, undocumented in the public record so far.

What the statement does establish is scope. Police described the case as a "Ponzi scheme and visa scam," language that suggests a two-track operation, one soliciting investment funds and another involving fraudulent visa or travel document services. The passport recovery supports the visa-fraud element specifically, but no further documentary evidence, such as bank records, victim complaints, or a formal charge sheet, has been disclosed publicly.

Babaseyi said the investigation is continuing. Babaseyi said the investigation is ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the alleged fraudulent activities and identify any other persons connected with the scheme. That statement leaves open whether additional arrests, either of suspects still at large or of Nigerian collaborators, are expected.

The case surfaced as one line item in a broader command update. The same August 10 statement covered a separate rescue operation in which the Ogun State Police Command rescued seven kidnapped victims and neutralised three suspected kidnappers in separate operations carried out in collaboration with the Department of State Services, Nigerian Army and other security agencies. Command figures show 38 total arrests across the weekend's operations, including 23 foreign nationals allegedly linked to a Ponzi scheme and visa scam, 12 suspected cultists, a suspected armed robber and a suspected fraudster posing as a clergyman.

The kidnap rescue drew state-level attention that the fraud case has not. On 3rd August, 2026, the operation received additional aerial support following a request by the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dr Dapo Abiodun, to the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, resulting in a police helicopter deployment to back ground operations. No comparable state or federal-level involvement has been reported in connection with the foreign nationals' case.

A separate, unrelated arrest disclosed in the same command briefing illustrates how routine such statements have become for the Ogun command. Police said a suspect identified as Babatunde Olasunkanmi was arrested after the incident occurred at about 12:48am on August 3 along the Orji Block Area, Itele, in connection with an alleged armed robbery of a motorcyclist. That case, bundled into the same statement as the immigration matter, is proceeding separately through the State Criminal Investigation Department in Abeokuta.

The immigration handover raises its own procedural question. Nigeria Immigration Service has not issued its own public statement on the 21 suspects transferred to its custody on August 5, five days before the police statement became public. What immigration status violations, if any, the agency intends to pursue, and whether any of the 21 face deportation, extradition, or separate charges under immigration law, remains undisclosed.

The Ogun police command has not said when the two suspects retained for prosecution will be formally arraigned, or in which court. Until Nigeria Immigration Service responds publicly and a charge sheet is filed for the two suspects in police custody, the scale of the alleged Ponzi and visa fraud, and how much money or how many victims it may have involved, stays outside the public record.