The police have arrested a real estate developer, Alabi Idowu, for allegedly defrauding more than 200 prospective tenants who had paid to rent apartments in a house at No. 1 Karimu Street, off Oyebanjo Street, Alapere, Ketu, Lagos State.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said the command’s Special Fraud Unit had arrested the fleeing developer, adding that the original owners of the house were also victims of the fraud.
Elkana stated, “The son of the deceased landlord, Adeleke, had an agreement with the developer to complete the existing bungalow on the land. He also developed new flats on the remaining portion of the land and started collecting money from different persons in order to raise funds for the project.
“The house has only 15 flats but he collected money from over 100 persons and after completing the work, he handed over the keys to 15 persons.
“The trouble started when the rest of the victims came to occupy the apartments and they met other people there.
“The Special Fraud Unit of the command has arrested the developer, while Adeleke has been invited to the Alapere police station to give his statement.
“There are four developers involved from our record and about 120 victims have reported at our station and the amount collected, according to our calculation, is over N20 million.”
