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Daily Mirror
21-07-2025
- Daily Mirror
Naked blood-drinking Black Axe 'mafia' feared to be recruiting UK 'money mules'
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."
Metro
21-07-2025
- Metro
British teens recruited to world's most feared mafia - the Black Axe gang
British teenagers are being lured into joining a Nigerian gang that forces recruits to drink blood to prove their loyalty. Law enforcement agencies warn that the Black Axe gang is preying upon debt-ridden students and professionals working at large organisations, offering them an opportunity to make fast cash. Some are used as 'money mules' who facilitate the transfer of fraudulent money through their bank accounts. Multinational gangs including Black Axe are now responsible for a majority of the world's cyberfraud, according to Interpol. Recruits, who are often male, are first required to undergo an 'initiation' ceremony which involves being stripped, tortured and made to drink blood, before they become 'Axemen'. Not only does the gang target well-healed professionals, many of its recruiters often hold jobs in the IT industry. Detectives say the gang uses Snapchat to distribute registration forms, taking advantage of instantly disappearing 'snap' messages to cover up their fraudulent activities, the Irish Times reported. However, the social network's parent company Snap Inc. insisted content suspected to be illegal is saved and reported to authorities. Black Axe, which operates as a mafia-style organisation, has an estimated 30,000 members across dozens of countries worldwide. More Trending It is thought to take as much as £3.8billion from victims each year through its scams, which also include romance and inheritance frauds as well as phishing and ransomware. Among the recruits of the scheme was 26-year-old university graduate Funmi Abimbola, who was jailed for three years last October for laundering money. The bank worker was said to have had 'many good qualities', but was lured into the crime group, for which he provided bank accounts for the transfer of money. Ireland's Operation Skein has so far identified 1,400 individuals connected to Black Axe. It has prosecuted more than 300 affiliated people, cautioned 39 juveniles, and identified more than 1,000 money mules during the investigation. 'Individuals need to realise that if they act as a money mule, they are interacting with vicious transnational organised criminals', said Garda Detective Inspector Michael Cryan. He added that the gang 'controls' its recruits, demanding that they hand themselves over in the event money is stopped or frozen by their bank. '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.' Forces from 196 countries are also able to draw on data from Interpol, which has created an intelligence database on the gang. Interpol dealt a 'major blow' to the gang after coordinating a huge operation which saw more than 300 people linked to Black Axe and affiliated groups arrested worldwide, including in the UK and Ireland. The probe, codenamed Operation Jackal III, recovered £2.24million in stolen assets including luxury items and cryptocurrencies, and saw more than 700 bank accounts frozen. It also uncovered large transactions to Nigerian bank accounts. A senior official for the multinational crime organisation said that Black Axe were 'early adopters' in money transfer technology. More Trending Tomonobu Kaya said that the rise of fintech banks, which operate digitally and have little to no physical presence, have helped facilitate the quick and seamless transfer of money around the world. In another operation, three members of the same family in the UK were jailed for more than 16 years after being found to have worked with Black Axe's alleged leader. The Nakpodia siblings laundered more than £1million through email and phone scams between 2007 and 2015 for their Nigerian-based brother-in-law Augustus Bemigho-Eyeoyibo. A BBC investigation into the Nigerian gang also found evidence of severe torture and brutality from pictures of dead bodies shared on social media. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page.
