Nigerian Matthew Fadeyi who was this week jailed for raping a woman is also under investigation for possibly links to the notorious Black Axe criminal organisation.
The 34-year-old, who has an address in Navan, County Meath, was sentenced to 5-and-a-half years im jail after he raped a younger woman he had given a lift home.
Sentencing judge Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo commented that the victim had been held against her will in the back of a vehicle while Fadeyi raped her and that he did not use a condom during the assault which likey caused the victim heightened distress.
Now, the Sunday World reports that Fadeyi, who came to Ireland in 2017, was arrested in relation to a “major” Garda fraud investigation.
The investigation is being undertaken with the support of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB).
Fadeyi is reportedly under investigation for recruiting a money mule who was found to have laundered €60,000 in his bank account after a company in Ukraine was targeted by the Black Axe crime organisation.
As Gript previously reported 1 in 5 Interpol Black Axe arrests took place in Ireland where the gang has a strong presence.
Interpol say that “Black Axe is one of the most prominent West African transnational organized crime syndicates, with operations in cyber fraud, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and violent crimes both within Africa and globally”.
In March, Gript reported that “the leader of the Nigerian mafia-like ‘Black Axe’ gang in Ireland is a “major target” for gardaí who said that they were arresting members of the violent mob “every week” with an estimated 1,100 people linked to the organisation in Ireland.
The west African man, aged in his 50s with a house in Dublin, has built up a fortune as the leader of the Black Axe gang in Ireland. He’s understood to have over 70 ‘lieutenants’ working directly under him in Ireland as part of the gang’s vast network.
At that time, Detective Chief Superintendent Nigel Mulleady said that as of last June, gardaí had made 377 arrests related to the Black Axe gang – under the Irish contribution to the Interpol operation, named Operation Skein. Numerous Irish businesses have been victims of the scams, Gardaí said.
Gardaí believe that as well as direct members, over 4000 ‘money-mules’ – often students, who move illegally-gotten money through their accounts on the gang’s behalf in return for a payment – have been identified in Ireland.