Washington, August 29, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Two Nigerian nationals have been extradited to the United States to face federal prosecution in separate financially motivated sextortion cases that allegedly involved teenagers in North Carolina and Mississippi, including cases linked to the deaths of the victims, the US Justice Department said.
Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, and Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, arrived in the US on Thursday after being transferred into American custody in Nigeria. They appeared separately before federal courts in North Carolina and Mississippi on Friday.
The charges against both men are allegations, and they are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Olawale faces federal charges stemming from the alleged sextortion of two victims and the death of a North Carolina teenager. He was indicted in August 2023 on charges including sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement, distribution of child sexual abuse material and interstate threatening communications.
He appeared before US Magistrate Judge L. Patrick Auld in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“Today’s announcement makes clear that we will not rest in our pursuit of justice for victims of sextortion,” US Attorney Dan Bishop said, noting that Olawale was appearing in a US court nearly three years after his indictment.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Greensboro office and the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.
Adekunle, a Lagos resident, was extradited to Mississippi to face a federal indictment alleging the sextortion of a minor. The charges include sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats with intent to extort.
He appeared for an initial hearing in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, on Friday. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence, while the charge involving child exploitation resulting in death carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years, prosecutors said.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch identified the deceased teenager as Walker Montgomery and described his death as a tragedy.
Olawale and Adekunle were arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 as part of a broader operation involving the FBI and Nigerian authorities.
Their extraditions were facilitated by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI legal attaché in Abuja and agents who travelled to Nigeria to take the defendants into US custody.
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