EFCC arrests Abubakar Tijani Sheriff at the airport for attempting to smuggle $7million out of the country.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday arrested a bulk currency smuggler, one Abubakar Tijani Sheriff for attempting to smuggle $7million out of the country.

The 24-year-old was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos en route Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He had escaped security scrutiny from other agencies at the airport but was apprehended at the point of boarding the plane by operatives of the Commission.

When he was arrested, he declared that he had a total sum of $4.5million on him but thorough screening and search showed that he was actually carrying $7,049,444 (Seven million, Forty Nine Thousand, Four Hundred and Forty Four United States Dollars).

He confessed that he was a courier for twenty individuals who hired him to courier the money for them to Dubai.

Investigations by the EFCC showed that Sheriff is a regular traveler and one of several couriers of illegal cash suspected to be proceeds of crime. His claims in respect of his accomplices are still being investigated by the Commission.

Travelers leaving the country are statutorily required to declare cash in excess of $10,000. However, it is not sufficient to declare excess cash, under the provisions of the Money Laundering Act, the onus is on the person making the declaration to explain the source of the excess cash and the reason for the export.

Experience have shown that bulk cash smuggling, the world over, are usually associated with proceeds of crime as legitimately earned funds are usually processed through the banking system.

Our experience in the last few years indicates an emerging trend of bulk cash smuggling to Europe, Middle East and North America with the attendant consequence for capital flight. Some Nigerian citizens are routinely arrested at airports in Europe and North American for currency smuggling though no such arrests have been recorded in the Middle East. But in all cases, the money is lost as they are never repatriated back to the country.

The Commission warns travellers who for any reason want to move bulk cash out of the country to do so through the banking system. Otherwise, they must be prepared to declare it and explain the source of the money.

Meanwhile, the suspect is being detained at the Commission’s holding facility in Lagos pending his arraignment in court.

Obama's 19 year old son Luther showed up at the DNC convention

Reports has it that the first family has turned more than a few heads at this week’s Democratic National Convention, where the president, as he greets delegates and waves to crowds of supporters, is often accompanied not only by his wife and two daughters, but also his rarely seen 19-year-old son, Luther.
The shy teenager, who has lived his entire life with his mother in central Illinois, seldom appears in public with the president, with whom he has reportedly shared a somewhat distant and occasionally strained relationship.

“When I saw that kid with President Obama, I had no clue who he was,” said Georgia delegate Kathy Tyson, stating that the teen appeared to have difficulty sustaining eye contact with others and stood uncomfortably alongside his father when he shook hands with voters. “I guess he does kind of look like the president, though a bit shorter and stockier.”
Luther was given birth in 1993 by Andrea Pletcher, then a 24-year-old diner cashier whom Obama, a young law professor at the time, met during a brief trip to the state capital of Springfield. While the president’s son is said to have faced numerous obstacles during his childhood, including academic troubles, repeated emotional outbursts, family friends have stated that overall he was a “good kid” who “genuinely meant well.”
White House aides said President Obama sends money to Pletcher each month for Luther’s care. After he became a U.S. senator and moved to Washington, Obama reportedly visited his 11-year-old son every other Saturday afternoon, playing wiffle ball with him or taking him out to a movie matinee and then dinner at the local Applebee’s.
According to reports, the two have often struggled to find common ground, owing largely to their sharply differing levels of motivation and expectations for academic and personal success.

President Obama does have a son and its 19yrs Old Secret Son Luther

Reports has it that the first family has turned more than a few heads at this week’s Democratic National Convention, where the president, as he greets delegates and waves to crowds of supporters, is often accompanied not only by his wife and two daughters, but also his rarely seen 19-year-old son, Luther.
The shy teenager, who has lived his entire life with his mother in central Illinois, seldom appears in public with the president, with whom he has reportedly shared a somewhat distant and occasionally strained relationship.

“When I saw that kid with President Obama, I had no clue who he was,” said Georgia delegate Kathy Tyson, stating that the teen appeared to have difficulty sustaining eye contact with others and stood uncomfortably alongside his father when he shook hands with voters. “I guess he does kind of look like the president, though a bit shorter and stockier.”
Luther was given birth in 1993 by Andrea Pletcher, then a 24-year-old diner cashier whom Obama, a young law professor at the time, met during a brief trip to the state capital of Springfield. While the president’s son is said to have faced numerous obstacles during his childhood, including academic troubles, repeated emotional outbursts, family friends have stated that overall he was a “good kid” who “genuinely meant well.”
White House aides said President Obama sends money to Pletcher each month for Luther’s care. After he became a U.S. senator and moved to Washington, Obama reportedly visited his 11-year-old son every other Saturday afternoon, playing wiffle ball with him or taking him out to a movie matinee and then dinner at the local Applebee’s.
According to reports, the two have often struggled to find common ground, owing largely to their sharply differing levels of motivation and expectations for academic and personal success.

Black Monday for Boko Haram as top leaders shot and captured

In what appears a major victory against the Boko Haram militant group, Nigerian securityoperatives say they killed Abu Qaqa, the sect’s spokesman, and arrested two top commanders early Monday in the Mariri neighbourhood of Kano after a shoot out which left at least one of the sect leaders dead.

Sources in the State Security Service, SSS, say Abu Qaqa, the sect’s spokesman was killed, and the two top commanders were arrested when officers of the Kano State Joint Task Force, JTF, opened fire on the Volkswagon Golf car leaders of the sect were travelling in. They had refused orders to stop for a search, according to spokesman for the Joint Task Force in Kano, Ikediche Iweha.

Mr. Iweha confirmed the arrest but offered no insight on the identity of a lady that eye witnesses claimed was one of the arrested sect members. He also did not comment on the alleged fatality of two leaders in the car as some international news agencies have claimed.

It had been an unusual quiet for the better part of Monday from the public enlightenment unit of the sect headed by Mr. Qaqa, fueling early speculations that he had indeed been killed. Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to reach the sect through its usual platform returned no response, breaking a pattern of its media engagement strategy.

Spokesperson for the SSS, Marilyn Ogar, refused to comment on the arrests or the incident.