Last month, Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant To The President On Media and Publicity, said the Federal Government had arrested some Bureau De Change operators who were facilitating transfer of money to Boko Haram terrorists.
He had said some Nigerians transferring money to the sect from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were working with the BDC operators.
“Bureaus de change are facilitating money to terrorists. We have already worked with the UAE. Convictions have been achieved of Nigerians who are transferring money to Boko Haram terrorists and this also happens domestically. And I tell you that by the time we finish this investigation, the shocking details will surprise many Nigerians,” Shehu had said.
It will be recalled that dozens of persons have been arrested by security agents in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on suspected financiers and collaborators of Boko Haram.
In Kano, traders at the foreign exchange open market in Wapa, Fagge Local Government, were picked up in March.
Prominent among the BDC operators arrested in the state are
- Baba Usaini
- Abubakar Yellow (Amfani)
- Yusuf Ali Yusuf (Babangida)
- Ibrahim Shani,
- Auwal Fagge,
- Muhammad Lawan Sani (a gold dealer)
Four of the arrested BDC operators are related to two persons jailed in Dubai last year on similar charges.
Those arrested are being kept in military and DSS facilities in Abuja and other places.
Multiple sources lament that the closely-guarded operation is being coordinated by Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
