FOUR officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) who escorted two men found with $6.1million cash at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, have been identified as Muhammad Safiyan (CSP); Desmond Abella (ASP); Suleiman Jubrin (Inspector); and Ali Abubakar (Inspector).
The officers were apprehended by operatives of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and handed over to the Department of State Services (DSS), which later transferred them to the EFCC for custody and questioning over money laudering suspicion.
They were accompanying Mamud Abdulras and Yahaya Nasidi, the two suspects linked with undeclared funds intercepted at the airport.
According to preliminary investigations, the officers claimed they were escorting the two men as “suspects” in connection with an undisclosed operation, an explanation being probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as the source and purpose of the large cash movement, as part of ongoing efforts to uncover who authorised the escort and ownership of the funds.
A senior female officer who reportedly received the two men on arrival at the airport via an Ethiopian Airlines flight, was also being investigated.
The incident occurred on Saturday, October 11, at Domestic Terminal Two (DT2) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
The initial report was filed at 7:52 a.m., shortly before the suspects were scheduled to board Aero Flight N2121 to Abuja.
Security personnel discovered a total of $6,170,000 (six million, one hundred and seventy thousand US dollars) and £15,000 (fifteen thousand pounds sterling) in the possession of six male intending passengers, a development that riggered suspicions of money laundering; hence an urgent alert to relevant security and anti-corruption agencies.
The funds were subsequently confisticated as evidence and the individuals involved detained for questioning, while the EFCC launched a full-scale investigation into the source and intended destination.
EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, confirmed that the suspects- Abdulras and Nasidi- were in the anti-graft agency’s custody, while the accompanying Police officers were apprehended by operatives of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and handed over to the Department of State Services (DSS), which later transferred them to the agency.
The suspects were arrested during routine security screening after airport officials discovered several boxes containing large sums of undeclared United States (US) dollars.
They had reportedly passed initial security checks without incident, but suspicions were raised by Aero Contractors staff, who noticed the unusually heavy boxes near the aircraft.
According to the Managing Director of Aero Contractors,Ado Sanusi: “Our security team flagged the baggage due to its size and weight.
“The individuals refused to check in the luggage and eventually admitted that it contained money, which had not been declared.”
Sanusi added that the men claimed to be security agents escorting a suspect and accompanying evidence, which initially allowed them to bypass certain checks.
Under Nigeria’s anti-money laundering laws, travellers carrying cash exceeding $10,000 are required to declare the amount to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which the suspects never did.
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