The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said the arrest of some Bureau De Change (BDC) operators across the country, especially in Lagos and Abuja, was incidental to the commission’s overall efforts in sanitising the foreign exchange sector.

The EFCC Director of Operations, Abdulkarim Chukkol made this known while fielding questions on Good Morning Nigeria, a breakfast programme on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).

Chukkol, who represented the Executive Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said the EFCC’s arrest of BDC operators and currency speculators in the parallel market was not indiscriminate but a product of intelligence.

“At EFCC, we work with intelligence and with other stakeholders; and when we talk of illegal forex operators you cannot just invite people on the street even though sometimes you could, but generally you do not have a choice but to make arrest,” he said.

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He stressed that the anti-graft agency considers foreign exchange malpractice as an economic crime against the country, adding that the commission, in 2016, established a full-fledge Section known as Foreign Exchange Malpractices Section.

Chukkol said for over ten years, the Section maintained visible “presence at all airports in the country to checkmate incidences of bulk cash movement outside Nigeria which is another aspect of this menace.”

He stated that through the EFCC’s presence at the major gateway into the country, many arrests of cash smugglers have been made and humungous sums in foreign currencies recovered.

“Some were arrested with excess of $6 million and we know that these huge sums were not meant to be used in buying goods but stolen monies being laundered out of the country,” he added.

Chukkol further stated that EFCC did not only recover some of the monies but secured their forfeiture to the Federal Government, noting that the culprits were prosecuted.

He stressed the need for active inter-agency and stakeholder’s collaboration, saying many of the over 6,000 registered BDCs do not belong to the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria and therefore out of the orbit of regulators.

The Star