By Lami Victor, KADUNA |
A banker named Kamaluddeen Lawal, along with three businessmen, have been arrested in Kano for fraudulent activities involving the recycling and manipulation of cash deposited in the bank.
The three alleged accomplices, Ismail Ibrahim Ilu, Lamido Bala, and Abba Mohammed, were apprehended by operatives of the Kano Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) due to their suspicious bank transactions.
EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, confirmed the arrests in a statement released on Tuesday night.
The suspects were nabbed on Unity Road, Kantin Kwari Market, Kano, following credible intelligence about individuals trafficking large sums of money in cash.
The suspects allegedly engaged in a scheme where they sourced mutilated naira notes from different banks.
They would remove a few notes from each bundle before depositing the rest into their bank accounts. Their banker accomplice would then receive the money as if it were the full original amount.
Oyewale explained, “The suspects perpetrated the fraud by requesting certain denominations (in this case N200 notes) from their respective banks and carefully removing a few notes from each bundle.
They would then hand them over to their accomplice at the bank, who would record the money without counting it, under the agreement that he would later receive his share of the removed money.”
At the time of their arrest, a total sum of N7.5 million was recovered from the suspects.
The EFCC spokesperson stated that the suspects would be charged in court once investigations are completed.
