The Kano zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has recovered over N798.5 million from various suspects on alleged related financial offences between January and August in the State.
Also, over 51 various cases are currently ongoing in courts in the State and are at different stages of completion, TheNation reports.
The zonal Head of the Commission in Kano, ACP Akaninyene Ezima, who spoke to reporters on Monday, while giving an update on the activities of the Commission in the zone, said over 280 suspects have so far been arrested this year for various financial related offences.
Ezima, added that the Commission recovered over $690, 400 (N248, 544, 000) from three intending passengers by the Commissions’ operatives, attached to the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) in their attempt to launder the hard currency abroad.
According to him, ”So far, we have 51 various cases currently ongoing in the courts, which are at different stages of completion but right now, we have legal vacation and once the vacation is over, we will resume.
”On money laundering, we have been able to recover N550 million from January to August this year.
”Over 280 suspects have been arrested for committing various offences this year, as several of them are in court and in different stages of investigations.
”Also, $690,400 was recovered from three passengers by operatives of the EFCC at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, who were in the process of travelling out of the country.
”However, there are certain areas of concern and worry to us, not only as a Commission but also as a Zone, and that is the issue of Cybercrime. We are all aware of the challenges cybercrime has posed to the Commission, as well as the bad name and attitude of a misconduct of a few individuals that they have created for us as a country.
”So, we in the Kano Zonal office will not rest on our oars, as the Chairman had directed that we should go all out and ensure that we stamp out this menace.
“With this disturbing development, the Kano zone, have developed a lot of intelligence, in order to ensure that we combat this menace head on.
”This of course, goes to show that we are sending a message of warning, of course, the world is a global village. So, the law enforcement agents have no borders; with a lot of collaborations, between the Commission and other law enforcement agents, and as a result of such collaborations, a lot of arrest has been made.
”We here in the Kano office are also going to make sure that we do not rest on our oars and deliver this mandate to ensure that we stamp out the scourge of cybercrime in the Zone”.