By Olusegun Lawrence The Department of State Service said one of the items recovered from the building that was raided in Lagos last Saturday, revealed that one particular individual had his data captured 18 times with different names, addresses but same photograph.
According to DSS spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, 31 Ghana-must-go bags containing hard copies of already captured data were recovered in all.
Justifying the raid, Ogar said the search operation carried out in the building located in Ikeja, Lagos State, was as a result of the petition the Service received alleging cloning of INEC Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) by some people.
Reacting, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said the building raided by security personnel is the party’s membership data centre thus, condemning the raid.
The DSS also listed other items recovered to include:
One (1) server;
Four (4) hard drives;
One (1) external hard drive;
One (1) HP Laptop;
One (1) Server switch;
Four (4) flash drives;
One (1) Samsung tablet; and
One (1) Apple computer system without CPU.
The statement reads in part, “A petition alleging that cloning activities of INEC Permanent Voters Card (PVC) by some unscrupulous persons with intent to hack into INEC data base, corrupt it and replace them with their own data was ongoing at No. 10 Bola Ajibola Street, off community Avenue, Allen Avenue, Ikeja LGA, Lagos State.
“Consequently, the Service placed the premises which had no Sign Post under surveillance and was convinced that unwholesome activities were ongoing within.
“On 22nd November, 2014, a search operation was executed at the above address were a Search Warrant obtained from the Court was executed. The search was carried out in the presence of one Onuchukwu Chika AUGUSTINE and twenty four (24) others.
“Thirty one (31) Ghana-must-go bags containing hard copies of already captured data.
All items recovered were documented at the back of the Search Warrant signed by the Service team leader and was witnessed by two (2) occupants of the premises, Onuchukwu Chika Augustine, an IT personnel and Olaposi FAYEMI, a supervisor on duty. It is also important to state that, photographs (still and video) of Service personnel entering and exiting the premises were taken. The search operation lasted for two (2) hours.
“Exploitation of some of the recovered items has revealed that one particular individual had his data captured eighteen times with different names, addresses but yet the same photograph.
“However, further investigation is ongoing and findings shall be made public,” Ogar stated.
