The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has made an official statement regarding the arrest of Wilfred Bonse in connection to the security breach at Patricia Technologies, the troubled cryptocurrency exchange. The cybercrime centre of the NPF is actively pursuing investigations to apprehend additional suspects.

During a press briefing, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the NPF's public relations officer (PRO), revealed that Bonse was arrested on charges related to conspiring to launder N50 million naira, part of the 607 million naira diverted from Patricia's company accounts. The arrest followed the police's tracking of individuals mentioned in Patricia's petition reporting the breach.

Per reports, Patricia had reported a fraud incident involving the “modification of computer systems”, resulting in the diversion of 200 million naira from the company's Flutterwave account. Bonse allegedly received 50 million naira from the stolen funds through a cryptocurrency wallet.

The NPF said it will continue its pursuit of other suspects, emphasizing that the investigations are ongoing. "Wilfred Bonse conspired in laundering the sum of Fifty Million Naira (N50,000,000) originating from the fraudulent diversion of Six Hundred and Seven Million Naira (N607,000,000) from Patricia Technology company's account to his bank account through a cryptocurrency wallet," Adejobi said.

Earlier this year, Patricia informed its users of a security breach resulting in the loss of $2 million in Bitcoin and Ether assets. In August, the company launched the Patricia Token (PUTX) as debt securities to repay customers. The tokens are redeemable when the company becomes profitable, says the PUTX white paper.

In October, Patricia partnered with the SEC-licenced DLM Capital Group, to have its subsidiary, DLM Trust, handle the fund disbursements to Patricia’s customers. However, the supposed agreement was suspended the next day by DLM Group, which cited “multiple breaches in the terms and conditions of agreement and trust” between both companies.

In February, Wilfred Bonse, a gubernatorial candidate for Cross Rivers state, Nigeria, was reported to be facing police investigation accusations related to funds received from a fraudulent hack. Bonse refuted the allegations, threatening legal action against People's Gazette for defamation. It remains unclear if this Wilfred Bonse is the same individual arrested by the NPF in connection to the theft from Patricia's account.

Meanwhile, the exact funds moved from Patricia’s accounts remain unknown. While Patricia lumps it at $2 million, the NPF gives two separate figures: 200 million and 607 million naira.

This arrest linked to Patricia’s hack is two-pronged. While it gives hope to users that Patricia was indeed hacked and is making efforts to recover lost funds, it leaves the gloomy possibility that such funds may never fully be recovered—and the wait for reimbursement might be longer than they thought.