US extradites Nigerians in teen extortion cases

Washington, Aug 29 (IANS) Two Nigerian nationals have been extradited to the United States to face prosecution in separate financially motivated sextortion cases that allegedly resulted in the deaths of teenagers in North Carolina and Mississippi, the Justice Department said.

Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, and Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, arrived in the United States on Thursday after being transferred into US custody in Nigeria.

They appeared separately in federal courts in North Carolina and Mississippi on Friday. The charges are allegations, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Olawale faces federal charges linked to the alleged sextortion of two victims and the death of a North Carolina teenager, according to the Justice Department⁠.

He was indicted in August 2023 on charges relating to the sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement, distribution of child sexual abuse material and interstate threatening communications.

Olawale appeared before US Magistrate Judge L. Patrick Auld in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“Today’s announcement makes clear that we will not rest in our pursuit of justice for victims of sextortion: Three years after indictment, and almost five years since the offense conduct occurred, the defendant will finally appear in a US court to face the charges against him,” US Attorney Dan Bishop said.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s office in Greensboro and the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.

Adekunle, a resident of Lagos, was brought to Mississippi to face a three-count federal indictment involving the alleged sextortion of a minor.

The indictment charges him with sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats with intent to extort.

He appeared in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, for an initial hearing Friday, according to a separate Justice Department.

Adekunle faces up to life in prison if convicted. The charge of child exploitation resulting in death carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years, prosecutors said.

The Mississippi attorney general identified the teenager who died as Walker Montgomery.

“Walker Montgomery should be here with us today,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said. “He should be moving into his dormitory, meeting up with friends, and running to class. That he is not is a tragedy.”

Olawale and Adekunle were arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 during a wider operation involving the FBI and Nigerian authorities.

Their extraditions were conducted with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI’s legal attache in Abuja and agents who travelled to Nigeria to take them into custody.

–IANS

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