Five suspects have so far being arrested by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for illegal possession of a total of $2.7 million. The five suspects were arrested at different times between January and March 2013.
When converted, this amounts to N432 million.
The Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos Command of the Service said on Monday that its officials arrested the suspects after they were found in possession of sums of money on their way out of the country. It said it suspected they were part of the clique that engages in money laundering.
The five suspects and the monies involved had been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further interrogation.
Speaking concerning the arrest, the Public Relations Officer of the command, Mrs. Thelma Williams, who refused to name the suspects because of on-going investigation, said that between September and December, 2013, the NCS arrested 12 suspects with $13.8 million amounting to N2.2 billion.
The NCS and the EFCC had always maintained that it was only legal that travellers make available information about the amount they have with them when leaving the country especially when the amount is from $10,000. Yet Nigerian travellers are still being arrested for going against the law.
Last year, for example, a son of Governor Sule Lamido of Adamawa was arrested and detained for alleged money laundering on his way out of the country.
“We have a form there on which travellers make a declaration stating the source of the money they are carrying and what that money is meant for. We leave one of the forms here and send a copy to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“They would go with a copy because there are some countries that would ask travellers to produce it.
“Sometimes we even have letters from some of these countries. They want to know if so, so person passed through our airport and if he made such a declaration so that it won’t look as if it is a fake declaration.
“You don’t pay any amount of money to declare. The money is yours; it’s just for you to declare,” the PRO said.
She expressed suspicion that the reason such suspects evade this declaration was because of government’s interest in curtailing money laundering as a crime in order to reduce international embarrassments.
The Nigerian Customs official also noted that the Service generated N2.3 billion in April 2013 as against the N2.2 billion it generated in the same period in 2012.
