Efcc arrests own driver, others for impersonation, conspiracy

HAVING spent only one and a half years with the commission, a driver with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nasiru Isa, has been nabbed by operatives of the anti-corruption commission alongside with others.

Isa, according to the EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement made available on Friday to the Saturday Tribune, was arrested for offences bordering on criminal breach of trust, attempted theft, conspiracy and impersonation.

The driver is said to be a member of a criminal syndicate, which attempted to break into a property located at a choice area of Garki in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, which was sealed by the commission, with the intent of carting away goods suspected to be proceeds of money laundering.

According to the statement, members of the syndicate included a mobile police officer, Corporal Aliyu Ismaila; Abubakar Jibrin, Abdulsalam Ado, Ibrahim Babangida; Reuben Dauda, Hassan Aliyu, Sani Yusuf and Murtala Mohammed.

The said property, Uwujaren stated, was currently under investigation by the agency and a subject of interest in the aftermath of findings into the N3.9 billion fraud case involving a former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd). The property was also linked to the wife of the former CDS.

The statement added that investigations conducted by operatives of the anti-graft commission revealed that shortly after the property was sealed, some individuals moved about 12 bags believed to contain items linked to money laundering offence into the property.

“On August 30, 2016 operatives of the EFCC, as part of monitoring activities on the sealed property, had gone to site to execute a search. However, members of the syndicate took to their heels on sighting the operatives of the anti-graft agency. A carpenter, Yakubu Muhammad, who was hired by the syndicate was left behind and was subsequently arrested by the operatives.

“The carpenter, who has been cooperating with operatives, confessed that he was not in the know of the illicit activity, as he was only brought in by the syndicate to assist with the use of his carpentry tools to break into the property.

“Investigations revealed that one of those in the know about the goods was the brain behind the scheming to steal them. The syndicate decided they would need to subdue the security man at the property, which would mean they would need to involve security personnel in the syndicate. Subsequently, Isa was contacted.

“To further beef up the security aspect of the crime, he also contacted his friend, Ismaila, who came for the “operation” fully armed. In perpetrating the crime, Dauda had posed to be a senior staff with the EFCC, while Jibrin posed as an Intelligence Police officer in the office of the Inspector General’s office,” Uwujaren stated in the statement.

He, however, disclosed that members of the syndicate were caught on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 when they were caught in the act of breaking into the property, having successfully overpowered the security guard at the entrance of the property.

The suspect, the statement added, would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.