Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, have intercepted the sum of $8,065,612m about to be illegally ferried out of the country through one of the international airlines.
The service said that the sum was discovered in 20 wraps inside a coaster bus at the tarmac of the airport on January 16, 2020 at the E-Wing of the airport.
The bus was alleged to belong to the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) and is said to be preparing to smuggle the money out of the country without proper declaration.
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col Hameed Ali (retd), confirmed the interception to journalists at the Federal Operating Unit of Customs on Tuesday.
He said that the sum was loaded in six bags with one suspect arrested in connection with it.
He added that the service was conducting an investigation into the consignment, the real owners and cohorts in the attempted smuggling, adding that after thorough investigation, the fund and the arrested suspect would be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further interrogation.
He said, “Currently, the value of the threshold in Nigeria is the equivalent of $10,000 and above. Therefore, all travellers in and out of Nigeria, must declare any physical cash in excess of this threshold of $10,000 or equivalent of other currencies or monetary instruments.
“The question is often asked, why do customs or any agency of government need to know if a private person or company is taking out monies for their personal business out of the country. It is for the reason that illegal criminal activities like international terrorism, drug smuggling, arms proliferation are financed by illicit cash movements outside the recognised financial systems.
“Proceeds from other criminal activities like corrupt enrichments from public treasury are similarly siphoned out of the country in cash. To enforce compliance with the monitoring of cross border cash movement, registers are maintained all approved points of entry and exit.”
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