Nigerian Student Arrested With 108 ATM Cards At The Airport

The National Drug Law En­forcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday said it arrested a 34-year-old man, Udeh Onuora Pas­cal suspected to be working for an international criminal organization for being in pos­session of 108 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) debit cards. The arrest took place at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos while the suspect was attempting to board a Qatar Airline flight to China. The debit cards belong to five commercial banks.

NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Mr. Ahmadu Garba said that the suspect was arrested in connection with suspected money laun­dering and was immediately transferred to the Assets and Financial Investigation Direc­torate of the Agency for inves­tigation. First City Monument Bank (FCMB) had the highest number of cards with 58. Stan­bic IBTC Bank has 23 cards, Zenith Bank 19, Fidelity Bank six and Diamond Bank two.

Mrs. Victoria Egbase, the Director of Assets and Finan­cial Investigation said that the Agency had established a pri­ma facie case of financial crime against the suspect and that the chairman had ordered the transfer of the case to the Eco­nomic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for fur­ther investigation.

The suspect in his state­ment said that he was asked to take the cards to China. According to him, “I am not the owner of the cards. I was told to take them to China and that somebody will col­lect them from me when I get there. I have a shop where I sell clothes at Onitsha Main Market. I am also a 300 level student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State studying History and International Relations. I never knew it would lead to my ar­rest”. Udeh hails from Obibi in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.

Chairman/Chief Execu­tive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, ordered that the case should be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for fur­ther investigation. “This is a suspected money laundering case involving cash transfer with debit cards. The EFCC will carry out further investi­gation on the case. We must continue to work together as a united force against criminal syndicates” Giade stated.

Source:

Sun Newspaper