The Kano Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction of a woman, Hauwa Abdullahi Ibrahim, for smuggling an undeclared sum of $1,154,900 and 135,900 Saudi Riyals cash from Saudi Arabia into Nigeria.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Hauwa was sentenced by Justice S. M. Shuaibu of the Federal High Court in Kano after pleading guilty to a two-count charge of money laundering.
The statement revealed that she was arrested by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) after failing to declare the foreign currency as required by law. The Customs officials subsequently handed her over to the EFCC for further investigation and prosecution.
The prosecution, led by counsel Musa Isah, presented evidence, including the undeclared funds, and urged the court to convict her based on her guilty plea.
In her defense, Hauwa claimed that she had been deceived by a man named Nafiu in Saudi Arabia, who allegedly asked her to transport a box he said contained dates and a small amount of money. She stated that upon arrival in Kano Airport, she handed the package to a woman before being recalled to the airport, where officials uncovered the undeclared currency.
“In view of her plea for mercy, Justice Shuaibu convicted the defendant as charged and ordered the forfeiture of the undeclared money to the Federal Government in line with Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022,” the statement added.
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