Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Command of
the Nigerian Customs Service yesterday arrested a passenger, identified
as Mr Ikebude Akoma, with $456,000, at the airport.
It was gathered that Akoma could not
convince the officials of the command of the source of the aforementioned
amount and the details of procurement as foreign exchange.
Akoma was stopped on his trip to
Chiba en route Doha with Qatar Airways during the outward clearance of the
flight.
The Public Relations Officer of the
command, Mrs Thelma Williams, said the passenger with passport number
A04073478, was arrested at the E wing section of the Lagos Airport screening
hall, from where he was interrogated by officials on duty before being handed
over the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which later released
him.
She explained that the passenger ran
foul of the law for his inability to convince relevant authorities on the
source of the money as well as his defiance of rules concerning the movement of
huge foreign currency abroad.
“During the outward clearance of
Qatar Airways flight to China via Doha, our officials reported that one
passenger identified as Ikebude Akoma with passport number A04073478 declared
$456,000 at E wing screening hall of the Lagos Airport. On further
investigation, it was discovered that the passenger had no proper document like
the bureau de change or bank slip,” William explained.