Whereabouts of Detained 135 BDC Operators Unknown after 11 Months

*They are not in our custody, say EFCC, DSS, police

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

There are concerns about the whereabouts of 135 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators arrested by the federal government over their alleged involvement in terrorism financing, after 11 months in detention. Intelligence agencies, police, and military sources have denied knowledge of where they are presently being held.

The BDC operators were picked up from Kano, Niger, Abuja, and some other northern states over a year ago by a joint security task force made up of the military, intelligence agencies, the National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Nigeria Police, and officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

THISDAY gathered that families of the affected currency dealers had made frantic efforts to get in touch with the detainees without success. They had also staged a protest at the Kano State Government House to demand the release of their family members.

Speaking on the development, spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Wilson Ewujaren, denied that the BDC operators were in the custody of the anti-graft agency.
“They are not in our custody. I have also contacted our Kano office and there are no such detainees in our custody,” Ewujaren said.

Speaking in the same vein, acting spokesman of the Nigeria Police, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejobi, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), also denied that the BDC operators were in the custody of the police.

“They are not in our custody. Anything terrorism financing should be handled by DSS and NIA,” Adejobi said.
Similarly, when contacted, spokesman of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dr. Peter Afunanya, said the BDC operators were not in the custody of DSS.
Afunanya said, “I heard that some people were demonstrating and saying it is DSS. We do not have BDC operators in our custody.

“We don’t have anybody in our custody. DSS is not holding anybody in that regard.”
Some reliable military sources also denied custody of the BDC operators.
THISDAY further gathered that the joint task force had after the arrest of the suspects handed them over to officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice for prosecution.

A presidency source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the delay in arraigning the suspects emanated from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
“If there is any delay in their prosecution, it is for the office of the AGF to clarify. Negligence and lethargy may have delayed the trial,” the source said.

Family members of the detainees protested in Kano last week over the detention of their breadwinners. They called on the “federal government to release our sons, husbands and fathers to us now or charge them to the court because we are suffering without them.”

The protesters said the continued incarceration of the suspects for 11 months was taking a toll on their families, stating , “it is either the federal government charges them to court or releases them.”
They claimed that the suspects were held by the DSS and the military.