By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Information reaching ONYOKOMITA has it that the recently-arrested Anambra crypto vendor, Mr. Linus Williams Ifejika (popularly known as BLord) has been released from the police custody.
The 26-year-old Anambra billionaire was arrested by the Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday in Abuja, following allegations of cryptocurrency fraud, terrorism funding, and aiding internet fraud, among others, levelled against his companies.
He was, however, reportedly ‘freed’ on Thursday by the police, after spending barely three days in the police custody.
Although, details and the circumstances surrounding the said release are still sketchy, a social media influencer, Very Dark Man (VDM), who announced it on his social media handles said the crypto vendor was granted bail by the police, as his alleged offences are bailable.
He also disclosed that he (Blord) would be returning to the police headquarters next Tuesday for the continuation of the investigation, which is being carried out by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID).
The Management of BLord Group of Companies had, on Thursday, announced that their Boss was not arrested, but invited by the Police, to assist in an ongoing investigation.
The BLord Group announced that in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday, in which they also dismissed the claims by Very Dark Man who has been boasting around on the social media that he was the person who influenced the arrest.
The statement reads: “In the light of the misleading news making the rounds, it has become pertinent for us to make the following clarifications; contrary to the unfounded claims that our C.E.O was arrested, we wish to clarify that our C.E.O was infact invited by the FCID N.P.F-NCCC/ CyberCrime Centre to assist the Police in an ongoing investigation and as a law abiding citizen he honored the invitation on 16th July 2024. It is pertinent to highlight that the C.E.O of Blord Group has been treated well with his human rights untampered by the police and with strict compliance to basic stan- dard protocol.
“Blord Group is a business built on the twin pillars of integrity and good ethical standards with a proven record of satisfactory service delivery. Like most businesses, our business has had its fair share of challenges in the course of de- livering optimum and premium service to its wide range of Clients.
“Emphatically, we wish to affirm that the invitation of the CEO is by no way sponsored or instigated by VERY DARK MAN as believed and postulated by Social Media as he has no ca- pacity to detain the CEO for a day because it is a national matter. However, in the interest of justice, our C.E.O. shall be cooperating with the authorities at this time and throughout the investigations.
“We are confident that the CEO will be cleared of any wrong doings even as we crave the indulgence of the media houses and bloggers to carefully verify any information before putting same out to avoid misleading the public. We shall not be making any further statements on this issue at this time.”
