FOLLOWING the operation of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the Wapa forex market in Kano, at least eight Bureau de Change (BDC) operators have been detained.
According to information gathered yesterday evening, roughly eight vehicles and heavily armed people were used by anti-graft agency agents to raid the forex market, causing chaos.
This is after traders in Kano heard that the anti-graft agency had earlier raided their Abuja-based colleagues, arresting some in connection with the recent increase in the dollar at parallel markets.
Speaking to one of the marketers who asked to remain anonymous, he revealed that some of his colleagues had partially closed their shops due to the development in Abuja. As a result, when the operatives stormed the market, many of them quickly shut down and fled the area before the EFCC operatives stormed the market late yesterday.
Another marketer who spoke with newsmen stated that many of them had made the decision to avoid the market till conditions returned to normal because of the recent events and that this was not the first time the EFCC had conducted a market raid.
“Every time they raid this market, the price of dollar will go up. For instance, today (Wednesday) a dollar is N845 as against N835 it was being sold yesterday (Tuesday) before the EFCC raided us.
“In fact, last week we were selling it at N750 but before the end of the week, it went up to N780. Problem is that it is because the government is not releasing dollars. The hike is not our fault. We buy expensive, so we have to sell it in a way to make a little profit,” the marketer said.
A senior agency employee who asked to remain anonymous confirmed the operation to newsmen today, saying that it was part of the agency’s attempts to assist the federal government in stopping the recent increase in foreign exchange rates.
The source says that the anti-graft agency had been closely monitoring the BDC operators’ roles in the regrettable hike and that money launderers have been using the BDC to buy forex on the black market in order to prevent losing their unlawful Naira funds to the recently announced redesign of Naira notes.
The senior staff, who is extremely familiar with the operation, revealed that eight suspects were detained during the raid for forex racketeering and trading without a valid license, and that they are currently cooling off in the Kano command while an investigation is being conducted.
