THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) agents carried out a raid on the offices of black market currency dealers in Abuja and detained an unconfirmed number of individuals today.
According to information gathered the officials stormed the Sheraton Hotel area of Abuja while heavily armed in order to arrest some Bureaux De Change dealers.
An observer saw the suspects apprehended being carried into waiting cars as others walked by.
The naira had lost value against the dollar throughout the prior week, and as of Monday, October 31, it was trading for N880 per dollar in the parallel market.
This comes after the Central Bank of Nigeria declared that the newly proposed naira notes would start to circulate on December 15, 2022.
The Spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren could not confirm the operation when contacted by our correspondent.
“I will check and get back to you,” he said.
In the meantime, the commission expresses worry over the increasing number of cyberattacks on banks and the institutions’ reluctance to notify law enforcement of such violations.
The EFCC, while cautioning that such timidity would only empower criminals urged the financial institutions to work with it to defend the financial sector from dangers of cyberattacks
Recall that after the Central Bank of Nigeria recently announced plans to redesign and reissue higher denominations of the naira, the EFCC warned Bureau de Change operators to be on the lookout for currency hoarders who would try to take advantage of the opportunity to sell the currencies they had illegally hidden away.
