NDLEA Warns Against ATM Card Smuggling

   The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, has warned passengers smuggling Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to desist from such act or be prepared to face the full wrath of the law.

The NDLEA boss gave the warning following the arrest at the weekend of two passengers with 89 debit cards at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos.

Giade said the suspects conspired with others to evade scrutiny from government agencies by opening various bank accounts with the aim of using the debit cards for daily withdrawals abroad.

He said, “This is a process of money laundering where multiple debit cards are used to withdraw money to circumvent the minimum amount of daily withdrawal. That criminal plan will not work because we shall continue to seize such cards and arrest the perpetrators at all entry and exit points,”

The NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Mr. Ahmadu Garba, gave the names of the suspects as Nweke Pauline Osita (40) and Egesiokwu Frank Chukwudi (41).

“We arrested Nweke Pauline Osita with 65 debit cards and Egesiokwu Frank Chukwudi with 24 debit cards during screening of passengers on an Ethiopian airline flight to China,” Garba stated.