The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has
warned travellers smuggling multiple Automated
Teller Machine cards to desist from the act or
face the law.
In a statement on Saturday, the NDLEA described
as money laundering, an arrangement of using
multiple debit cards to withdraw money from
multiple bank accounts to circumvent the
minimum amount of daily withdrawal.
”That criminal plan will not work because we
shall continue to seize such cards and arrest the
perpetrators at all entry and exit points,” said
Ahmadu Giade, NDLEA’s Chairman.
Mr. Giade spoke following the arrest of two
travellers, at the weekend, with 89 debit cards at
the Murtala Mohammed International Airport,
Lagos.
Pauline Nweke and Frank Egesiokwu were
arrested with 64 and 25 debit cards respectively
during the screening of passengers on an
Ethiopian Airline flight to China.
Mr. Nweke, an Onitsha-based trader, said that
the debit cards belonged to his friends, relatives,
and business partners.
“I was on my way to China to buy goods when
NDLEA officers arrested me with 65 debit cards,”
said Mr. Nweke, 40, who hails from Enugu State
and is married with two children.
Victoria Egbase, Director of Assets and Financial
Investigation at NDLEA, said that preliminary
investigation showed that the suspects opened
various bank accounts to facilitate withdrawal of
money outside the country.
Mr. Giade said the suspects would be handed
over to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission for further investigation.
The duo’s arrest came less than one week after
Pascal Udeh, another Onitsha-based trader, was
arrested at the Lagos airport with 108 debit
cards enroute China.
“The arrests is an indication that smuggling of
debit cards abroad is one of the latest money
laundering techniques employed to evade
financial regulations,” said Mr. Giade.
Last April, the Central Bank of Nigeria reviewed
the foreign exchange spending, reducing the
daily cash withdrawal limit for ATM users to US$
300 from a previous US$2,500