Just In : EFCC Arrests Three Suspects For Currency Racketeering In Kaduna
Three persons have been arrested in connection with suspected currency racketeering by operatives of the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-corruption agency had set up a Special Task Force in all its Zonal Commands to tackle the menace of the dollarisation of the economy.
The anti-graft agency in a statement on Wednesday, said it had also invited proprietors of private universities and other schools of higher learning in Nigeria charging fees in dollars.
A statement signed by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, explained that the task force would ensure the enforcement of extant laws against currency mutilation and dollarisation of the economy.
Quoting the chairman of the agency, Ola Olukoyede, who inaugurated the task force in Abuja, the spokesperson said the task force was set up to protect the economy from abuses, leakages and distortions.
According to the statement, the EFCC has already arrested some persons allegedly engaging in issuing invoices in dollars and mutilating the Naira in Lagos and Port Harcourt, although no number was mentioned.
Oyewale, in a statement on Wednesday, said some persons were arrested in connection with suspected currency racketeering.
He said the suspects – Musa Gideon, Abdul Seidu Adamu and Justine Musa – were arrested along Yakubu Gowon Way, Kaduna on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, “while trying to sell new naira notes to an EFCC’s undercover operative”.
He said, “The operative, a member of the Special Task Force set up for the enforcement of extant laws against currency mutilation and dollarization of the economy by the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, functioned in a sting operation carried out by the Team.
“The operation yielded the arrest of the three suspects selling new and old naira notes to the tune of N1,307,400 (One Million Three Hundred and Seven Thousand, Four Hundred Naira) and many Automated Teller Machine, ATM cards.
“The suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.”