LAGOS — A Nigerian court jailed 15 foreign nationals yesterday — all Asians — for “cyber-terrorism and internet fraud”, the national anti-graft agency said, one of the largest such cases in the country.

Eleven Filipinos, two Chinese, one Malaysian and one Indonesian were sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of one million naira (about RM2,681) each in the commercial capital, Lagos, after pleading guilty, said Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) spokesman Dele Oyewale.

They were accused of recruiting young Nigerians for “identity theft and to hold themselves out as persons of foreign nationality”.

“The judges also ordered that the devices recovered from the convicts be forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria,” Oyewale said.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is saddled with a reputation for internet fraudsters known in local slang as “Yahoo Boys”.