The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that foreigners are establishing criminal cells in Nigerian cities.
According to him, the organised foreign fraud syndicates employ young Nigerians to carry out their nefarious deeds.
The EFCC boss stated this while receiving participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course from the National Institute for Security Studies, led by its Director of Studies, Hyginus Ngele.
According to a statement on Wednesday by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Olukoyede also revealed that foreign fraudsters are also illegally importing arms into Nigeria using cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
“Another dimension that is not given attention is the discovery, recently, that organised foreign fraud syndicates are establishing cells in Nigerian cities and recruiting young Nigerians into serious organized cybercrimes, including cryptocurrency fraud.
“In the special operations we carried out in Lagos recently, we arrested 194 foreigners in the heart of Victoria Island. Among them were Chinese, Filipinos, Eastern Europeans, Tunisians, and others, all in a single building. Some lacked valid visas, and most of their financial activities were conducted through cryptocurrency,” Olukoyede revealed.
Additionally, Olukoyede noted that some of the arrested foreigners were ex-convicts in their home countries who had escaped prosecution and sought refuge in Nigeria and other African nations.
He questioned how bandits and insurgents have sustained their activities over the years, highlighting the uncontrolled flow of small arms and light weapons across Nigerian borders.
He also pointed out the role of non-state actors in the illegal exploitation of minerals, which compounds security threats in the country.
Olukoyede subsequently called for coordinated national and continental efforts to combat the activities of foreign fraud syndicates and internet criminals, stressing the link between money laundering and national security threats.