Six held for alleged bid to swallow $156,000 cash

SIX persons, including a Bureau de Change (BDC) operator, have been arrested for allegedly trying to swallow $156,000 in a money laundering bid.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Joint Task Force (JTF) smashed the money laundering syndicate at a hotel on Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos.

This is the second suspected money laundering case involving a BDC operator in two months.

The suspects are: Kingsley Nwokenta, the BDC operator, who is also known as Buchito, Augustine Onwuasoanya and Christian Ifor, who are based in Brazil.

Others are Emmanuel Nwokenta, Ikenna Ezenwa, and Uzoma Ezenwa, the hotel manager.

NDLEA JTF Commander  Muyiwa Adeniyi described the BDC operator as the brain behind the criminal act.

He (Nwokenta) allegedly supplied $120,000 to be swallowed and exported to Brazil.

Onwuasoanya swallowed 74 wraps of dollar bills amounting to $111,000; Ifor wanted to swallow $45,000. Nwokenta, manager of Amazon Bureau de Change, played a supportive role in the alleged crime, it was alleged.

Ezenwa was hired to wrap the money.

NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Ahmadu Giade promised to track down smuggled narcotics and currency.

He warned that BDC operators who fail to work within the law establishing them would be sanctioned.

“The agency will continue to rely on manpower training to outwit criminal syndicates. We shall take reasonable measures to dislodge drug cartels and eradicate narcotics from our society. Any bureau de change operator that violates the law shall be punished accordingly,” Giade said.

Giade directed that the suspects be transferred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).