Some fake $10. 000 notes have been handed over to officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by the Nigeria Customs Service, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command.
A statement on Saturday issued by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Juliana Tomo, explained that a 41-year-old suspect, Ifeanacho Ugbor, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
According to her, the suspect was heading to Brazil, which contravened the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of Nigeria.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer explained that the seizure was made less than two months after the new Customs Area Controller, Charles Orbih, was redeployed from Abia/Imo Area Command to MMIA.
The statement said, “Considering Section 15 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (As Amended) Act No 11, 2011 and Act No 1, 2012, which entails the money laundering offences, a passenger contravened a part of this section within our jurisdiction.”
The statement added the passenger, Ifeanacho Ugbor, is a 41-year-old Nigerian from Enugu State with a valid Nigerian Standard Passport No. B00033052 was scheduled to travel from Murtala Muhammad International Airport with the Ethiopian Airline (flight ET900) to Brazil on Friday, 10th November 2023, and was suspected to have contravened the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of Nigeria.
The spokesperson stated that the suspect was restrained from travelling and detained for further investigation, stressing that having declared the sum of $10,000 on the currency declaration form, their officers took a step further to examine the currency in line with section 66 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, and the officers discovered that the sum of $10,000 was all counterfeit.
