NDLEA Nabs Woman With Over $114,245 Cash at Lagos Airport

 

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on Wednesday, December 2, arrested a 52-year-old Nigerian wom­an of British extraction over alleged currency traf­ficking.

 

The suspect, Olukoya Sar­ah Ogunade, was nabbed at Murtala Muhammed Inter­national Airport, MMIA, Ikeka, Lagos, while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to London.

 

Statement issued by spokesman of NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju, stated that the suspect was dis­covered during outward search and was found with $114,245; 2,020 inside 13 white envelopes in her lug­gage.

 

Born to a Nigerian fa­ther and a Scottish mother, Olukoya Sarah had both Nigerian and British inter­national passports.

 

Commenting on the ar­rest, NDLEA Director of Assets and Financial Inves­tigations, DAFI, Mrs. Victo­ria Egbase, said the suspect was arrested on suspicion of currency trafficking, adding that the foreign cur­rencies were not declared in accordance with the law at the airport.

 

Ofoyeju dropped the hint that the suspect in her voluntary statement confessed that the seized monies were her legitimate earnings.

 

She reportedly confessed, “I am an architect based in London. The money is part of rent paid to me by ten­ants in a property I inherit­ed. It is also part of architec­tural and interior decoration work I did as well as loans from family members. I used to send money through the bank but the new regula­tion made me to carry cash. I intend to use the money to pay my children’s school fees and my medical bills.”

He, however, insisted that the suspect did not provide documents and material evidence to substantiate her possession of the money found on her, which he said suggested currency traffick­ing.

 

He noted that though NDLEA did not link the money to proceeds of nar­cotic trade, insisting that lack of declaration of the money made her action not only suspicious but liable to prosecution under the Act.

 

Meanwhile, following the unsatisfactory explanation of the suspect, the Acting Chairman of the agency, Mrs. Roli Bode-George, has directed that the case be immediately transferred to the Economic and Finan­cial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for further investiga­tion and action.