Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have seized $4.7 million counterfeit cash which was to be injected into Nigeria’s economy.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, said following intelligence, the agency’s operatives intercepted the fake money in the early hours of Friday 18th February 2022 at Abaji area of the Federal Capital Territory.
It was a consignment sent from Lagos to the FCT and a 52-year old man was arrested in relation to the counterfeit cash.
Babafemi said, “A controlled delivery of the parceled counterfeit US dollars totalling $4, 760, 000 led to the arrest of a principal suspect, 52-year-old Abdulmumini Maikasuwa.
“The seizure followed intelligence received by the FCT Command of the Agency detailing the movement of the cash and the vehicle conveying it. Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has directed that both the cash and the suspect in custody be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation.”
The agency’s spokesman also said that in Kwara State, barely three weeks after a nursing mother, Mrs. Rashidat Adebayo, 38, was granted administrative bail following her arrest for dealing in illicit drugs, operatives have again arrested her in Offa with assorted drugs such as Tramadol, Swinol, Diazepam and Pentazocine injection ampules.
“Before her latest arrest on Thursday 17th February, the nursing mother had been arrested and granted bail on 24th January 2022 for dealing in similar drugs,” Babafemi said.
He said NDLEA officers also arrested two drug dealers: Sani Isa (aka Bilaz) and Bala Yerima in Hong, Adamawa state with 239 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 209kg, while operatives of the Bauchi state Command intercepted a truck marked FFF 422 XB coming from Lagos to Maiduguri, at Azare, Bauchi.
A total of 164.8kg of cannabis sativa concealed in milk cartons was recovered from the truck.
In Ebonyi, gunmen attacked an NDLEA team, killing an official and setting their van ablaze.
The incident happened yesterday in the Ezzamgbo area of the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway.
Another operative was seriously injured, a source said, adding that the attack happened near a military checkpoint.
The gunmen also took away a rifle belonging to one of the officials.
