Akinyele Adetule, an official of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), recently held by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),officials in Lagos, for being in possession of $1.4 million would be arraigned at a Federal High Court on Wednesday.
Adetule, a security personnel of FAAN was allegedly apprehended on Saturday, October 21, 2012 at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, by officials of the EFCC with the sum of $1.4 million, totalling about N218 million. He will be arraigned before Justice Okeke of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi.
The arrest, according to EFCC sources, is coming on the heels of that of Abubakar Sheriff Tijjani, a bulk cash smuggler who was also intercepted with $7,049.444, at the same airport on Thursday, 27 September, 2012.
EFCC Head of Operations, Mr. Iliyasu Kwarbai, revealed to Huhuonline.com that the suspect, Akinyele Adetule, had beaten all security checks with his FAAN identity card, but he ran out of luck when he proceeded to make phone calls instead of boarding his flight.
He however confirmed that the Commission has so far seized over $10.2, N1.6bn in Lagos within three months, adding that the arrest of Mr. Adetule has further confirmed the suspicion that most airport officials also engage in fraudulent sharp practices and are part of the money laundering syndicate.
“The suspect is a FAAN security guard. He wore his tag and was thus able to move freely in the airport without drawing any suspicion. He was carrying a bag and it went through the scanner. The suspect passed through NDLEA, and Customs and he went to the waiting area; but he started making phone calls instead of proceeding to board his flight. We accosted him and noticed that his bag was heavy. When we searched him, we saw the large sum of money, which he said did not belong to him and that he was only trying to telephone the owner who never showed up.”
The EFCC has also expressed surprise on the suspect’s ability to pass the bag through the scanner without security agents raising the alarm, accusing officials at the airport of conniving with criminals.
“Investigations are therefore ongoing to unravel the complicity or otherwise of the airport officials in the passage of the bag containing the dollars through the various security checks and the identity of the principal, if any.”
Meanwhile, the suspect, Adetule has claimed that he was given the money by one Mr. Ifeanyi Urama, a bureau de change operator who was recently granted bail by the EFCC after he was arrested with $996,000, equivalent of N155m, but he has refused to disclose the identity of the person at the receiving end after beating security checks.
