Two Nigerian men have been extradited to the United States to face prosecution in separate cases involving the alleged financial sextortion of minors, which authorities said resulted in the deaths of two teenagers.
The extradition was announced by United States Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a post on X on friday, who said the suspects were arrested in Nigeria as part of a wider operation involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Nigerian authorities.
According to Blanche, the two men are accused of engaging in financially motivated sextortion of minors in the United States, with the cases linked to teenage victims in Mississippi and North Carolina.
“Two Nigerian men have been extradited to the United States from Nigeria to face prosecution in two separate cases for allegedly engaging in financially-motivated sextortion of minors resulting in the deaths of two teenage victims—in Mississippi and North Carolina,” Blanche said.
He added that the arrests formed part of an international effort by the FBI to identify and apprehend individuals targeting minors in the US through sexual extortion.
Blanche said the US government had strengthened its partnerships with foreign law enforcement agencies to tackle criminal networks involved in the exploitation of children.
“We have strengthened our international law enforcement partnerships to dismantle the foreign criminal networks behind financially motivated sextortion and identify and prosecute child sexual exploitation perpetrators linked directly to dozens of American teens who died by suicide,” he said.
He further warned that suspects involved in the exploitation of children would be pursued regardless of where they were located.
“Anyone who allegedly exploits vulnerable children in the U.S. will be pursued no matter where they are in the world,” Blanche said.