A search conducted by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officers at the Wapa currency market in Kano resulted in the arrest of at least eight Bureau de Change (BDC) operators.
According to news reaching us, operatives from the anti-graft agency’s Kano headquarters raided the currency market on Tuesday evening with roughly eight cars and highly armed men.
One of the marketers told the magazine that before the EFCC operatives came late Tuesday, several of his colleagues had partly shuttered their businesses after learning that some of their colleagues had been detained in Abuja.
When the operatives rushed the market after the temporary closure, many of them promptly shut down and fled.
Many of them have also opted to remain off the market till things settle down, since this is not the first time the EFCC has raided the market.
According to the marketer;
“Every time they plunder this market, the dollar’s value rises.”
For example, a dollar costs N845 today (Wednesday) as opposed to N835 yesterday (Tuesday) before the EFCC raided us.
“In fact, we were selling it for N750 last week, but by the end of the week, it had risen to N780.”
The problem is that the government is not issuing funds.
We are not to blame for the rise.
We acquire expensively, therefore we have to sell it in a manner that allows us to earn a little profit.”
According to a senior member of the anti-graft agency who verified the raid, it was carried out as part of the agency’s attempts to assist the federal government in stopping the recent FX rise.
He also stated that they have been closely monitoring the roles of BDC operators in the unfortunate hike and that money launderers have been using the BDC to obtain forex on the black market in order to avoid losing their ill-gotten funds in Naira due to the recently announced redesign of Naira notes.
According to the senior staff, eight individuals were detained for forex racketeering and participating in forex without a genuine license.
The suspects are presently cooling down at the Kano command, where an inquiry is underway, following which the required action will be made.
