NDLEA arrests China-bound man with 108 ATM cards

LEKE BAIYEWU

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a 34- year-old man, Mr. Udeh Onuora Pascal, for being in possession of 108 Automated Teller Machine debit cards.

Pascal was suspected to be working for an international criminal organisation.

The agency said the debit cards belonged to five commercial banks.

The NDLEA further disclosed that First City Monument Bank had the highest number of cards with 58; Stanbic IBTC Bank had 23; Zenith Bank, 19; Fidelity Bank, 6; and Diamond Bank 2.

A statement by the Head, Public Affairs, NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, on Saturday, said the arrest was made at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos while the suspect was attempting to board a Qatar Airline flight to China.

The statement quoted NDLEA’s commander at the airport, Mr. Ahmadu Garba, as saying the suspect was arrested in connection with suspected money laundering and was immediately transferred to the Assets and Financial Investigation Directorate of the Agency for investigation.

The Director, Assets and Financial Investigation, Mrs. Victoria Egbase, was quoted as saying that the agency had established a case of financial crime against the suspect, adding that the chairman of the unit had ordered the transfer of the case to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further investigation.

The suspect, in his statement, was quoted to have said he was asked to take the cards to China.

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