SINGAPORE, May 14 — Two Nigerians believed to be involved in a series of transnational internet love scams were remanded for further investigation today.

In a statement yesterday, the Singapore Police Force said Awolola Gbolahan Ayobami, 37, and Awolola Oladayo Opeyemi,34, will be charged with the offence of abetting others to dishonestly receive stolen property.

If convicted, the men can be jailed up to five years and fined.

Both men will return to court on May 21.

This is the first time that love scam suspects based overseas have been arrested and sent to Singapore for prosecution.

Suspected of being part of an African syndicate, Ayobami and Opeyemi allegedly recruited two Singaporean women, who acted as money mules, to receive at least S$85,700 (RM261,153) from victims here in 2017 and 2018.

The women then allegedly handed the cash to members of the syndicate in Malaysia, the police said yesterday.

Investigators from Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department worked with their counterparts in Malaysia in a joint investigation and established the identities of the two men.

Both of them were arrested by Malaysian police officers in Kuala Lumpur during an operation on April 16 and taken to Singapore yesterday.

The police said that there were 660 reported cases of internet love scams last year. Victims in Singapore were cheated of at least S$27.5 million. — TODAY