Olukoyede: Foreign fraud syndicates using cryptocurrency to import arms into Nigeria

Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says foreign fraud syndicates are importing arms into the country using cryptocurrency as mode of payment.

Olukoyede spoke on Wednesday while receiving participants of the executive intelligence management course (EIMC) 18 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) in Abuja.

The delegation was led by Hyginus Ngele, director of studies at the institute.

The EFCC boss said organised fraud syndicates are establishing criminal cells in Nigerian cities and recruiting young people.

He disclosed that some of the foreigners arrested over fraud in Nigeria were convicts and ex-convicts in their countries.

“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 organised cybercrimes, including cryptocurrency fraud,” he said.

“We are beginning to see the likelihood, the propensity that a lot of these people are into illegal importation of arms into the country using cryptocurrency as means of payment. And this is an area that must interest all of us.

“Some of them (suspected foreign fraudsters) don’t even have valid visas and most of the financial activities they carried out they did through cryptocurrency.

“Another thing that we discovered is that some of the foreigners we arrested were already ex-convicts in their countries.

“Some of them have been convicted and escaped from their countries and found safe haven in Africa, not only Nigeria.

“We discovered that they are also developing cells in some other African countries by virtue of the investigation we are carrying out.”

The EFCC chair said the movement of arms across the country’s borders and the activities of non-state actors have worsened insecurity in the country, especially in northern Nigeria.