Security operatives have arrested 20 suspects linked to a high-level hacking syndicate accused of compromising the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
According to a report by Channels Television, the suspects are part of a broader network believed to include over 100 individuals who specialise in breaching the servers of national examination bodies, including JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO).
Security sources disclosed that the arrested individuals confessed to deliberately sabotaging the integrity of the computer-based UTME. Their alleged goal was to discredit JAMB’s digital testing system and discourage the use of Computer-Based Tests (CBT) for future examinations conducted by NECO and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
Investigations revealed that the syndicate operated out of private schools and colleges, where they charged desperate candidates fees ranging from N700,000 to N2 million in exchange for artificially inflated UTME scores.
The suspects were arrested in Abuja by a joint team of operatives from the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). Further investigations are ongoing to dismantle the full network and prevent future breaches.
