In the past month, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained and charged 170 people for similar offenses, and it has successfully achieved the conviction of 23 unlawful Bureau De Change operators and naira racketeers.
During a huge crackdown in Enugu State, the EFCC Special Task Force also detained 116 illegal BDC operators and currency racketeers.
The EFCC seized N110.7 million, $8,368.00, £145.00, €2,725; 900 South African Rand; 32,000.00 CFA; 100 Turkiya; and 500 Bank Mozambique currency during the Enugu crackdown.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the International Criminal Police Organization, the governments of Kenya, the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland are all helping to extradite Binance Holding Limited executive Nadeem Anjarwalla in connection with an ongoing investigation into allegations of $35,400,000 in money laundering, according to the EFCC.
Our correspondent was able to receive an EFCC document named “EFCC Alert,” which included details about the incident and was approved by the commission’s chairman, Ola Olukoyede, on Tuesday.
The memo further disclosed that since its establishment on February 7, 2024, the EFCC Special Task Force had taken decisive action and produced remarkable outcomes.
Olukoyede stated that the EFCC’s diligence was demonstrated by the arrests and convictions.
He noted, “That the EFCC has secured 23 convictions for the offence of currency racketeering and operation of illegal BDCs with the Special Task Force in less than a month lends evidence to hard work and dedication.
“Eleven of the convictions were recorded in Kano alone; three in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, five in Lagos, one in Port Harcourt and three in Kaduna.
“Currently facing prosecution for the same offenses are 170 suspects, spread across just eight zonal offices of Kano, Ibadan, Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo and Maiduguri.”
He went on to say that 116 individuals were detained by EFCC agents during a sting operation. These suspects included street vendors running illicit foreign exchange markets, currency speculators, and illegal Bureau de Change operators.
The document further revealed that, “Of the haul of 116 arrests made in Enugu in a sting operation, comprising a mix of illegal bureau de change operators, currency speculators and street hawkers operating illegal foreign exchange markets, recoveries included, N110, 700,000.00, $8,368.00, £145.00, €2,725; 900 South African Rand; 32,000.00 CFA; 100 Turkiya; and 500 Bank Mozambique currencies in different denominations, and an abandoned safe by currency street hawkers.
“Some of the suspects are foreigners from neighbouring countries. It is cheerless that whereas denominating service charges and prices in currencies order than the naira, as well as naira mutilation and offering it for sale are designated as offences in the country, enforcement has been lax until the EFCC under Olukoyede took up the gauntlet.”
