The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has achieved considerable success in its fight against illegal Bureau De Change (BDC) operators and currency racketeering. Over the past month, the commission secured the conviction of 23 illegal BDC operators and naira racketeers, with 170 others being arrested and arraigned for similar offences.
As part of a massive clampdown, the EFCC Special Task Force also arrested 116 illegal BDC operators and currency racketeers in Enugu State. During the operation, the commission recovered N110.7m, $8,368.00, £145.00, €2,725, 900 South African Rand, 32,000.00 CFA, 100 Turkiya, and 500 Bank Mozambique currencies.
The EFCC has also revealed that it is receiving assistance from several international organizations, including the International Criminal Police Organisation, the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the governments of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, and Kenya, in the extradition of Nadeem Anjarwalla, a Binance Holding Limited executive. Anjarwalla is being investigated for an alleged $35,400,000 money laundering offence.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, sanctioned a document titled “EFCC Alert,” which provides details of the development. According to the document, the EFCC Special Task Force has been getting impressive results since its formation on February 7, 2024.
Olukoyede said the arrests and convictions were a testament to the hard work of the EFCC. He revealed that the commission secured 23 convictions for the offence of currency racketeering and operation of illegal BDCs with the Special Task Force in less than a month. Eleven of the convictions were recorded in Kano alone, three in Ilorin, five in Lagos, one in Port Harcourt, and three in Kaduna.
Currently, 170 suspects are facing prosecution for similar offences across just eight zonal offices of Kano, Ibadan, Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo, and Maiduguri.
During a sting operation, EFCC operatives arrested 116 suspects, comprising a mix of illegal BDC operators, currency speculators, and street hawkers operating illegal foreign exchange markets. The 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.
Olukoyede lamented the fact that denominating service charges and prices in currencies other than the naira, as well as naira mutilation and offering it for sale, are designated as offences in the country, but enforcement has been lax until the EFCC under his leadership took up the gauntlet.
