Man Arrested With N1b At Airport For Trial

A 25-year old man,  Abubakar Sheriff Tijani who was recently arrested while trying to smuggle $7 million (about N1.1 billion) out of Nigeria at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos southwest Nigeria, will be arraigned in court tomorrow.

It was learnt the suspect declared he was travelling with $4.5 million but when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, screened him thoroughly, $7 million was found on him.

He was said to be on his way to Dubai, United Arab Emirates when he was arrested on 27 September, 2012.

When he was interrogated, Sheriff reportedly confessed to EFCC operatives that he was hired by 20 people to ferry the money to Dubai.

He will be arraigned before a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on Friday.

Sources at EFCC said he will be docked for contravening section 12 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act Cap. F34 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Section 2(5) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011.

—Oluokun Ayorinde/Abuja