The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has apprehended an official
of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Akinyele Adetula, for
trying to launder $1.4m (N218m).
The arrest came less than a
month after the commission arrested a 24-year old man, Mr. Abubakar
Sheriff, at the same airport with $7m (N1.1bn).
The suspect was arrested at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos on Saturday.
The Head of Operations, EFCC, Mr. Iliyasu Kwarbai shed more light on the Matter saying, the suspect was able
to pass through Nigeria Customs Service and National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency security checks because he was wearing his identity
card and therefore did not draw any suspicion.
He said, "The
suspect is a FAAN security guard. He wore his tag and was thus able to
move freely in the airport without drawing suspicion. He was carrying a
bag and it went through the scanner.
"The suspect passed through
NDLEA and Customs and he went to the waiting area; but he started making
phone calls instead of proceeding to board his flight. We accosted him
and noticed that his bag was heavy.
"When we searched him, we saw
the large sum of money, which he said did not belong to him and that he
was only trying to telephone the owner who never showed up."
The EFCC authorities said the suspect was given the money by one Mr. Ifeanyi Urama, a bureau de change operator who also doubles as clearing and forwarding agent.
Urama, it was learnt, was recently granted bail by the EFCC after he was arrested with $996,000 (N155m).
Urama
was alleged to have given Adetula the money, which belonged to a
yet-to-be-identified person and Adetula was to help the unknown person
to get the money past security.
Adetula, who claims to have
worked for FAAN for over five years, said he was promised N10,000 if he
could successfully get past security.
The indigene of Ondo State said this was his first time of committing such a crime.
He said, "Ifeanyi
called me in the morning and told me to help him to take the bag and
gave me someone's phone number and told me to call the person once I get
to the area where the airplane would board.
"I didn't know
the exact amount, but I knew the money was much. I would have informed
authorities of the amount of money I was carrying but I was carried away
by the phone call I was receiving."
Kwarbai told Sunday PUNCH
that money launderers had begun to devise new means of beating security
due to frequent arrests by the commission.
He said he was
surprised that the suspect was able to pass the bag through the scanner
without security agents raising the alarm - a move which he said implied
that officials at the airport were beginning to connive with criminals.
He
said the law stipulated that anyone attempting to travel with over
$10,000 (N1.56m) cash must inform security agents at the airport and
he/she must also be prepared to explain his/her source of livelihood.
He noted that within a period of three weeks, the commission had seized over $10.2m (N1.6bn) in Lagos alone.
"We
appeal to airport officials and security agents to report cases of
money laundering to the commission, as this is clearly economic
sabotage," he said.
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EFCC Arrests FAAN Official With N218m At MMA, Lagos
EFCC Arrests FAAN Official With N218m At MMA, Lagos
NigerianEye
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Monday, October 22, 2012
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Thank you for this great discovery. With this revelation, and the traces that those managing the scanner at the airport are conniving, let them loose their jobs immediately; and in addition serve a jail term of not less than one year to teach them lessons and discourage their colleagues.
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