Money-laundering: NDLEA arrests 6 for swallowing
$156,000
By Daniel Eteghe
Operatives of the of the
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, yesterday arrested a Bureau De
Change operator and five other suspected money laundering syndicate
for swallowing $156,000 (N31, 083, 000.00) at Excel Oriental Hotel
along Airport Road, Lagos.
The six suspects were arrested in
the hotel while they were busy swallowing the large sums of money with the
intention of exporting $156,000 to Brazil.
Speaking on the arrest, the chairman
of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said the six suspected members of the group,
including a Bureau de Change operator, had been apprehended in connection with
swallowing $156,000.
Alhaji Giade further pointed out
that the agency would track down suspected drug traffickers and currency
launderers in a bid to rid the society of crimes.
According to him, operators of
bureau de change who fail to work within the confines of the law establishing
them shall be severely sanctioned.
Meanwhile, NDLEA Commander, Joint
Task Force, JTF, Mr. Adeniyi Muyiwa, gave the names of the suspects as
Nwokenta Kingsley, 37, a Bureau de change operator, also known as
Buchito; Onwuasoanya Augustine Chukwuemeka, 54, who lives in Brazil and
Christian Okoli Ifor, 35, based in Brazil.
Others are Nwokenta Emmanuel
Maduakolam, 31; Ezenwa Ikenna, 28, a specialist in wrapping; and Ezenwa Uzoma,
a 33-year-old hotel manager.
He stressed that an interim
investigation report by the anti-narcotics agency revealed that Mr. Nwokenta
Kingsley, a.k.a Buchito was the brain behind the suspected criminal
act.
According to Mr. Muyiwa, Mr.
Kingsley allegedly supplied $120,000 to be swallowed and illicitly
exported to Brazil.
He said: “Onwuasoanya
Augustine Chukwuemeka swallowed 74 wraps of dollars amounting to one hundred
and eleven thousand ($111,000). Christian Okoli Ifor who resides in Brazil had
forty-five thousand dollars which he wanted to swallow. Nwokenta Emmanuel who
is the manager of Amazon Bureau de Change played a supportive role in the
alleged crime. Ezenwa Ikenna was hired to wrap the money.
[Vanguard]
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