Some social media users have claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an American security agency, has arrested 80 Nigerians who are all from the same ethnic group for criminal activities.
On September 13, @NoNonsensezone, an X account, posted a series of tweets containing an excerpt from a CBS report in which Nick Hanna, a US lawyer, was seen speaking on the activities of the criminal gang.
The post also featured screenshots of the indictment sheet.
“All 80 Nigerians arrested by FBI who have been on their Most wanted list are from the igbo tribe in Nigeria,” the tweet claimed.
“The indictment stems from a yearslong investigation led by the FBI. Iro, Igbokwe and another Nigerian defendant 39-year-old Chuks Eroha, face additional charges for attempting to destroy their cellphones when the FBI executed a search warrant.”
The tweet has gathered 244.9k views; 779 likes; 480 retweets; 266 bookmarks; and 196 comments.
On September 14, @drpenking, another X user, made the same claim, citing the evidence shared by @NoNonsensezone.
“80 Nigerians have been arrested by FBI after being trailed for years for criminal activities. All 80 are Igbo,” the tweet said.
The post garnered over 1.2m view; 10k likes; 3.3k retweets; 2.8k bookmarks; and 960 comments.
VERIFICATION
TheCable subjected multiple keyframes of the video to a reverse image search and found a 20-minute news report on the arrest.
The video was a 2019 report from CBS News.
A statement published by California’s attorney’s office said not all the arrested suspects were Nigerian nationals.
“A 252-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed today charges 80 defendants, most of whom are Nigerian nationals, with participating in a massive conspiracy to steal millions of dollars through a variety of fraud schemes and launder the funds through a Los Angeles-based money laundering network,” the statement partly reads.
TheCable also observed that not all the arrested Nigerian nationals bore Igbo names.
For instance, one of the suspects was named Joshua Aniefiok Awak while another was Jeremiah Utieyin Eki.
VERDICT
The claim is false and misleading. The FBI arrest happened in 2019 and was not as recent as the tweets suggested. Also, not all 80 suspects were Nigerian nationals.
