A 34 year old man, Udeh Onuora Pascal suspected to be
working for an international criminal organization had been arrested by
officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for being in
possession of 108 automatic teller machine (ATM) debit cards.
He was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport (MMIA) Lagos while attempting to board a Qatar Airline flight to China.
The debit cards belong to five commercial banks.
NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Mr. Ahmadu Garb a said
that, suspect was arrested in connection
with suspected money laundering and was immediately transferred to the Assets
and Financial Investigation Directorate of the Agency for investigation.
Mrs. Victoria Egbase, the Director of Assets and Financial
Investigation said that the Agency had established a prima facie case of
financial crime against the suspect and that the Chairman had ordered the
transfer of the case to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for
further investigation. The suspect in his statement said that he was asked to
take the cards to China.
According to him, “I am not the owner of the cards. I was
told to take them to China and that somebody will collect them from me when I
get there. I have a shop where I sell clothes at Onitsha main market. I am also
a 300 level student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State studying
History and International Relations. I never knew it would lead to my arrest”.
Udeh hails from Obibi in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA Ahmadu Giade said that
the case should be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
for further investigation.
“This is a suspected money laundering case involving cash
transfer with debit cards. The EFCC will carry out further investigation on the
case. We must continue to work together as a united force against criminal
syndicates” Giade stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment