Members of the Nigerian Black Axe gang – who are inducted via a physically and mentally tortuous blood drinking ritual – are believed to be operating a vast cybercrime network
A violent criminal cult known for its bizarre naked blood-drinking initiation rituals has become one of the world’s most dangerous mafia groups – and it is now targeting British teens.
The Black Axe gang was, once upon, a time a secretive confraternity based in the University of Benin in Benin, Nigeria, established as part of the 1977 Pan-African movement. Early on, it was steered towards “intellectual radicalism in pursuit of Pan-African struggles”, and its presence grew throughout several African nations and universities as part of the Neo-Black movement. But now, it has been dubbed a “mafia-style gang” accused of committing a vast array of crimes ranging from election interference to human trafficking, some in the UK.
Black Axe members are a mix of volunteers and forced conscripts, join the group following a brutal initiation in which they are stripped naked before being physically and mentally tortured and forced to drink blood.
They have long been associated with election fraud, human trafficking, illegal drug trading, initimidation and violence, with images occasionally surfacing online in Nigeria showing dead and mutilated bodies believed to be the Black Axe’s handiwork. Their most lucrative criminal enterprise, however, is cybercrime.
Investigators believe the Black Axe has a vast global network of cyber criminal cells that generate a staggering $5 billion (£3.7 billion) a year.
Around 30,000 people are believed to be working for the group, which has tendrils believed to extend from Nigeria to Malaysia, the Gulf States, Canada, the US, Malaysia and up to a dozen other nations. Law enforcement agencies now believe British and Irish young people are being targeted by the group via Snapchat, the most popular social media network among teens, with thousands believed to be falling into its clutches across Europe.
It is believed that students are among those being blackmailed into acting as money mules after criminals receive compromising images of them, with the group known to operate via Snapchat, favouring its disappearing messages function.
Recruiters reportedly use straightforward registration forms through which they have mules fill in bank details and other key bits of information, including accounts, which they then use to move fraudulent money. Senior detectives say they have recovered images of completed versions of this form from seized phones.
Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan, of the Garda Economic Crime Bureau in Ireland, told the publication people are lured with the promise of “easy money”.
Speaking last month, he said: “Individuals need to realise that if they act as a money mule, they are interacting with vicious transnational organised criminals. You owe them and they control you. If the money is frozen by the bank, they have been known to demand that you pay up yourself like drug dealers.
“The money mules have no idea what their account will be used for, how much or where it was stolen. If stolen in the USA, they may look to extradite you there to charge you and sentencing is very harsh there.
“They also need to realise that they are helping organised crime gangs who traffic humans, who run brothels, as well as funding their lavish lifestyles. People who get involved in this are destroying their own futures because they could go to jail, end up with a criminal record and be prevented from getting jobs.”