Nigerian mafia cape town: Nigerian mafia leaders arrested in Cape Town

In early morning raids in Cape Town on Tuesday, alleged leaders of a massive multinational Nigerian syndicate known as the Black Axe were apprehended.

Six leaders of the Black Axe organized criminal group’s were arrested, in a coordinated operation combining the South African police and US law enforcement officials.

A seventh member of the group, who is not a member of the organization’s leadership, was also detained. In a separate but connected case, an eighth person alleged to be affiliated with the Black Axe organization was apprehended.

Hundreds of thousands of “romance scams” are thought to be perpetrated by the gang. Members of the organization allegedly used dating services to meet older men and women from all over the world who were either widowed or divorced, then defrauded them of their money.

The Black Axe members detained in the early hours of Tuesday are also accused of utilizing a corporate email breach scam to defraud compagnies.

The frauds are sophisticated, with members from a well-organized Nigerian syndicate working primarily out of the Table View area on Cape Town’s west coast, posing as wealthy retirees looking for love.

The mafia-style organization that began on university campuses in Nigeria in the 1970s is referred to as the Neo-Black Movement of Africa.

The organization is also well-known in Italy, where ajudge has sentenced 11 Nigerians to a total of 136 years in prison for smuggling young women and girls from their native countries to Italy, enslaving them, and forcing them into prostitution.