The Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC) has acknowledged that false money declarations expose Nigeria to cash laundering dangers, highlighting its ongoing investigation of a passenger caught with $578,000.
The Fee warned Nigerians to desist from such practices, in line with its assertion on Saturday.
Operatives of the Lagos Directorate 2 of the EFCC burdened that they’ve commenced an investigation right into a suspect, Okorie Sylvernus Sunday, who was arrested at Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) with $578,000.
Nairametrics beforehand reported that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport (MMIA) Command, had handed over $578,000 in seized money to the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC) after a passenger allegedly falsely declared the quantity on the airport, officers introduced on Friday.
The passenger, a male traveler arriving in Lagos from Johannesburg aboard South African Airways Flight SA60, initially declared $279,000 on the airport’s foreign money declaration desk.
Nevertheless, throughout a routine inspection, customs officers found an extra $299,000 hid in a number of packages, bringing the full sum to $578,000.
Authorities additionally discovered €100 and a counterfeit $250 observe among the many undeclared money.
Effiong Harrison, the Comptroller of MMIA Command, who oversaw the handover to the EFCC, acknowledged that the suspect’s actions violated the Cash Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011.
Reacting to the event in an announcement, the EFCC acknowledged receiving the suspect whereas commending the NCS for its cooperation with the EFCC.
The appearing Zonal Director of the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC, Okotie Eboh, Ahmed Ghali, acknowledged that inter-agency collaboration was essential to attaining a typical objective.
He burdened that the Fee is probing the passenger for allegedly falsely declaring the money he was carrying alongside.
“I need members of the general public to be cautious of this sort of act. It’s incumbent on every particular person going out or coming into the nation to declare any money in extra of $10,000. It’s obligatory by advantage of the provisions of our legal guidelines, particularly the cash laundering regulation,” he mentioned.
“We won’t permit anybody to sabotage the economic system or the nation’s monetary system. This sort of act exposes the nation to lots of dangers by way of cash laundering; it additionally makes the nation look like a haven for fraud. We’ll proceed to synergize to make sure we have now a greater nation, a stronger economic system, and a extra useful monetary system,” he mentioned.
He added that the lengthy arm of the regulation would at all times meet up with anybody concerned in legal actions.
