He is charged with four counts of violating interstate travel ban, not using facemask, breaking the social –distancing order and attending a concert breaching the COVID-19 restriction order on social gathering.

Magistrate Idayat Akanni set the fine at N200,000 after the musician pleaded guilty to the charges against him.

Speaking earlier, Ccounsel to the artiste, Mohammed Yunusa said that his client was made to believe that the organisers of the concert had procured all the approval from the Federal Government.

The Chief State Counsel, Udeme Umana, said : ”the court also mandated him to publish an public apology to the Federal Government in a national daily of choice.

“This will serve as a detterent to other Nigerians”.

The ‘Mafo’ crooner had on June 13, left Lagos for the Federal Capital Territory to perform at a concert held at the Jabi Lake Mall.

The concert was organized by Play Network Africa, Traffic Bar, and El’Carnival, and was sponsored by Glenfiddich.

Following public outrage, the FCT Minister shut down the mall and the Federal Government of Nigeria stopped the operation of the airline whose plane he chartered.

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The chief magistrate, Mr Tajudeen Elias, ordered that the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Sgt. Sunday Idoko, handling the case must present Naira Marley in court on the next date of adjournment.

However, two of the musician’s brothers and his cousins appeared in court over alleged theft of a car and a cell phone.

The defendants, Idris Fashola, 18, Babatunde Fashola, 24; and Kunle Obere, 22, are facing a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, assault and obstructing the arrest of Naira Marley.

The chief magistrate granted the three defendants N500,000 bail with two sureties in like sum.

He ordered the IPO to produce Naira Marley before the court on Dec. 21, when the case would be listed for further hearing.

The prosecutor, ASP Edet Okoi, told the court that the three defendants committed the offences on Dec. 16, at Eko Hotel Roundabout on Victoria Island, Lagos.

He said that the trio who were in a motorcade with Naira Marley, stole a Toyota Camry vehicle with Registration No. FEE 120 AA valued at N1.8 million and an IPhone X5 worth N330,000 belonging to one Mr Adelekan Ademola.

He added that the three defendants and others at large assaulted the complainant by beating him up.

Okoi alleged that the second defendant, Babatunde Fashola and others at large obstructed the police while performing their lawful duty and prevented them from arresting Naira Marley.

“One of the vehicles in the musiciaon’s motorcade hit the complainant’s vehicle from the back while he was throwing out money from his vehicle to his fans.

“When the complainant came down from the vehicle to inspect the damage, Obere entered into the complainant’s Camry and drove it off with the motorcade.

“Ademola reported to the police and the vehicle was tracked to where it was parked at Jakande Crescent, Oniru in Lagos.

“When the police arrived at the location in company with the complainant, Naira Marley and his boys started beating the complainant.

“A group of boys obstructed the police from arresting the musician but they were able to apprehend the three defendants,” he alleged.

He said that the offences contravened Sections 112,172, 287 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had preferred an 11-count charge against the musician bordering on conspiracy, possession of counterfeit Credit Cards, and Fraud.

Also mentioned in the charge is one Yad Isril, who is said to still be at large.

The Popular “Is a goal” singer was arraigned on May 20 before Justice Nicholas Oweibo, but he denied the charges.

Following a bail application by defence counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo, (SAN), the court had granted Fashola bail in the sum of N2 million with sureties in like sum.

When trial resumed on Wednesday, an investigator with the EFCC, Mr Nuru Buhari, narrated how the commission retrieved “damning evidence of credit card fraud from Naira Marley’s IPhone and laptop.

Buhari, told the court that he works in the EFCC’s Forensic Department.

He said that an analysis of Marley’s laptop showed that he frequented top five most-visited websites which dealt in buying and selling stolen credit cards.

Responding to questions from the prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, the witness said that during analysis, the cache file and history file revealed that the most frequently visited sites by the user of the computer included:

“arder007.org, Zuni.sa, nationwidecheckbalance.co.uk, ferunshop.net AND cocoa.co.uk,”

According to him, analysis of the websites revealed that:

“Web 1 is where stolen card information is being sold to intending fraudsters, web 2 is for stolen credit cards specifically for the UK, whereas web 3 is an online website designed for UK cardholders to check their balance wherever they are around the world.

He continued: “Web 4 is a dark web meaning an underground tunnel in the Internet where stolen credit card information are sold and traded, web 5 is an online shopping mall where members are given discounts for shopping from certain shops.”

The witness told the court that his team also found a file named, Select BIN 101.txt and .txt., and after opening the file they discovered it contained “stolen credit card information with special status that allows transaction up to 12,000 dollars without a pin or physical card.

“When we ran the BIN code search for the first six digits of the cards, it revealed they are Visa cards issued by Barclay’s bank, Sandander UK plc,” he sajd.

He said that analysis of installed apps on Marley’s laptop showed that two of them, IP VANISH and TOR Browser, enabled the owner of the computer to disguise his identity and location.

“The TOR Browser is sometimes called the Onion; most of the criminals cover their tracks with various layers just like an onion using this app to make it near impossible for a tracker to track their location.

“The IP VANISH is a virtual private network, which provides that the actual computer and location of usage cannot be identified. It also gives the user the ability to change their location.” he said

According to the charge, the defendant allegedly committed the offences on different dates between Nov. 26, 2018, Dec.11, 2018, and May 10,

The charge alleges that Fashola and his accomplices conspired to use different Access Bank ATM Cards to defraud their victims.

It said that the defendant allegedly used Access Card number 5264711020433662 issued to another person, in a bid to obtain fraudulent financial gains.

He was said to have possessed these counterfeit credit cards, belonging to different cardholders, with intent to defraud, which also amounted to theft.

The offences contravenes the provisions of Section 1, 23 (1) (b), 27 (1}, 33, 33(9) Cyber Crime (Prohibition) Prevention Act, 2015.

The judge adjourned the case till Oct. 24 for continuation of hearing.

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EFCC acting spokesman, Mr Tony Orilade, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

A copy of the charge was also made available to our correspondent.

It was signed by Rotimi Iseoluwa ESQ, I. A Mohammed ESQ, U. U Buhari ESQ and A. O
Mohammed (Prosecuting Counsel).

One of the counts read: “That you Afeez Adeshina a.k.a Naira Marley, and Yad Isril (still at large) on or about 26th November 2018, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired amongst yourself to use Access Card No. 5264711020433662 issued to persons other than you.

“In a bid to obtain gain and you thereby committed an offence contrary Section 27 (1) (b) of the cyber crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, ECT) Act 2015 and punishable under Section 33(2) of the same Act.”

Marley, a Nigerian musician, and four others were on May 10, quizzed by EFCC in its Lagos Zonal office for alleged internet fraud.

They were also arrested in connection with alleged case of money laundering and cyber-crime offences.

“At the point of arrest, the commission found and recovered a number of items, including laptops, from the suspects.

“However, reports had shown that Omoniyi Temidayo (a.k.a Zlatan), was released few days after alongside his crew members, Tiamiu Kayode, Adewunmi Moses and Abubakar Musa.

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