By Ken Chiwendu
The Kano Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction and sentence of Sale Bala and Abdullahi Tahir Hamisu before a Federal High Court sitting in Kano and presided over by Justice S.M. Shuaibu for failure to declare the sums of $86,500( Eighty Six Thousand, Five Hundred United States Dollars), 305,150( Three Hundred and Five Thousand, One Hundred and Fifty) Saudi Riyal, 560,000 (Five Hundred and Sixty Thousand ) CFA, and 200 (Two Hundred) Euro in violation of Section 3(3) of Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
They were jailed after pleading guilty to a three- count charge bordering on money laundering.
One of the charges read ‘’that you Sale Bala, Abdullahi Tahir Hamisu and Ibrahim Abubakar Saeed now (at large) on or abourt the 27th of April 2025 at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, failed to make declaration of the sum of $86,500 (Eighty Six Thousand, Five Hundred Dollars) to the Nigerian Customs Service and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition Act), 2022
Both defendants pleaded guilty to all the charges read to them.
In view of their pleas, counsel for the prosecution, Musa Isah prayed the court to convict them accordingly.
In his ruling, Justice Shuaibu found the defendants guilty on all counts and convicted them accordingly. The court also ordered the defendants to forfeit the undeclared funds to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The first defendant, Sale Bala, was arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on April 27, 2025 while attempting to clear an unaccompanied baggage declared as “bedsheets.”
A thorough inspection by Customs officials revealed the baggage concealed the aforementioned foreign currencies. During interrogation, Bala disclosed that he was assigned to clear the consignment and deliver it to the second defendant, Abdullahi Tahir Hamisu.
Upon Hamisu’s arrival to collect the baggage, he was similarly apprehended. Both suspects were subsequently handed over to the EFCC for further investigation and prosecution.
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