obstead200:
were they at the airport? Have they reached the airport and failed to declare there money?
This is just stupidity and incompetence on the part of EFCC. They are just using an excuse to extort simple business men.
But then, when will my igbo brothers learn? There are a lot of legit ways to send money out of the country for purchase of goods. Why must it be in cash?

"There is tension in Onitsha Main Market, Anambra state as operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the market after arresting seven traders at the Enugu Interna­tional Airport for alleged money laundering"


Learn the art of reading, my friend. It will save you a lot of stress.

Ramnon2:
Onitsha traders - and others like them- should please modernize their importation systems. It is time to do so. I hope the educated among them, and many are, would not be carrying huge cash about like this.

How about traveling with the max allowable amount, 10K, and wire-transferring the rest money? Or is there no money transfer service in the "giant of Africa"? Even if you elude detection in Nigeria, how about at the foreign destination airport? Most countries have this same policy.

How about if there is a plane accident and you lose all the money?

Another ignorantly-opinionated troll.. Banks don't accept foreign currencies in Naija. Why is that folks that have never held any dom account are talking

My own stake on this issue is that there are laws on d limit of foreign currency one shld carry when travelling. Agreed! So if u r caught, u shld face d music. But where am see tribal and anti-igbo sentiments is efcc storming the market to arrest the exchangers, Abok¡s have been doing this trade for ages n I have never heard they were arrested for exchanging large amounts.

Disappointing responses so far on this thread. Nigeria is finally following the rule of law. some people want lawlessness to continue. why is it so difficult to declare any thing above $10,000? unless you are doing something illegal.

lomprico:
My own stake on this issue is that there are laws on d limit of foreign currency one shld carry when travelling. Agreed! So if u r caught, u shld face d music. But where am see tribal and anti-igbo sentiments is efcc storming the market to arrest the exchangers, Abok¡s have been doing this trade for ages n I have never heard they were arrested for exchanging large amounts.

I think you will benefit from this.
"There is tension in Onitsha Main Market, Anambra state as operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the market after arresting seven traders at the Enugu International airport for alleged money laundering. "

And this:
Chairman of the Onitsha Main Market Traders Union (OMMA­TU), Chief Innocent Agudiegwu who confirmed the incident, said that the traders were arrested at the airport and brought to the market where it was ascertained that they were genuine traders and not money launderers."

ohenhen1:
Disappointing responses so far on this thread. Nigeria is finally following the rule of law. some people want lawlessness to continue. why is it so difficult to declare any thing above $10,000? unless you are doing something illegal.

You declare if u are traveling outside the country with the money not when u have the money at BDCs inside a market!!

tdayof:
its really a pity you are this dull.

what an irony

badnature:
@petikal so if I understand you well,knowing how to do transfer is now a big deal? I have been transferring money to shanshuipo in Hong Kong since 2012 until this regime now came along with his sentimental policy.last month I travel to Hong Kong through kano because I realized the are not collecting money from northern airport as I was told and I try it out it turned out to be truth.business people and local politicians houlling money,there are some politician that even give money to some people to go and put it in their account in Dubai and come back,no body arrested them at airport,so what did you call that? I have to leave lagos to kano can you explain the rational behind that type of policy? or are you trying to tell me that there is a method of transfer peculiar to you alone that DIAMOND BANK,GTB,&SKY BANK are not aware of?

What's stopping you from doing a wire transfer using your bank at the official rate? The "new policy" didn't change that. Is it too inconvenient for you, or the rate is too low? Do you see my point here?

@lamprico currently in Nigeria bank don't transfer money out side this country,now according to our emperor( buhari) you can travel with more than $5000 declared or not.so my question is if you want to buy something in China worth $70000 what will you do?

HungerBAD:
Universally, anything up to $10.000, even if the post erroneously said it's $5000, not reported to the Customs at the Airport is an offense.

This is not a tribal thing.

Those Trying To Make this a witch hunt thing, are full of mischief.

All the traders needed to do was declare their MONEY.

Trying to sneak a large amount of money out of the country, knowingly or not, is an offense.

They broke the law, and there are consequences for that. And remember, ignorance is not an excuse before the law, incase they claim they did not know they were breaking the law.

Did u also read this:
"The source said that upon interrogation,
the traders were said to have mentioned
where they purchased the foreign
currency in the market, hence the visit of
the EFCC operatives to the Main Market
to arrest the dealers."

This policy was initiated to eliminate money laundering so as to avoid the high exchange rate been experienced.

This policy is affecting importers, we are still a consuming nation, the manufacturing is not performing.

The government needs to give considerations to these importers otherwise products will become scarce and therefore the price of these products will increase which will end up causing inflation and the economy will be affected. This is like going round in circles- preventing one thing and then causing another.

eyesofgod:


"There is tension in Onitsha Main Market, Anambra state as operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the market after arresting seven traders at the Enugu Interna­tional Airport for alleged money laundering"

I think you will benefit from the above

The source said that upon in­terrogation, the traders were said to have mentioned where they purchased the foreign currency in the market, hence the visit of the EFCC operatives to the Main Market to arrest the dealers.

I hope the above will remove the scales from your eyes.

Nellybii:

Ojukwu looted too

the gospel according to you

HungerBAD:
Universally, anything up to $10.000, even if the post erroneously said it's $5000, not reported to the Customs at the Airport is an offense.

This is not a tribal thing.

Those Trying To Make this a witch hunt thing, are full of mischief.

All the traders needed to do was declare their MONEY.

Trying to sneak a large amount of money out of the country, knowingly or not, is an offense.

They broke the law, and there are consequences for that. And remember, ignorance is not an excuse before the law, incase they claim they did not know they were breaking the law.

Well said Bro. Illegality has been around for so long that a lot of peeps no longer know when they are breaking the law. As my people used to sy "Aruru ani gba afo ya huo omenala".

petikal:
My people, please stop this conspiracy BS! This is NOT a plot against Igbos, and I'm one. This is policy enforcement.

I can bet these traders know fully well they can do all their transactions at the bank with the official rate and within the permissible limit, but they choose to do things illegally as some (or many) Nigerians often do.

Things have become so bad in this country that any little law enforcement takes us by surprise, and we find excuse to cry for breaking the law. Yet we cry foul against our leaders, when you can't even quietly do your little part! How many of us boldly confront security personnel at the airport that ask for pocket money? Or the police? At best, we smile/joke and walk by.

In civilized countries, you can make transactions through the bank worth millions of dollars, and yes they have daily/weekly limits too for anti-money laundering. Nigeria tries to do the same, and we cry foul. Pathetic!

Wake up, and play your little part in making this country great! And stop pointing at politicians who break the law. DO YOUR PART!

In as much as I want to agree with u partly, I won't fail to point out to u that the present policy of PMB on forex transaction is killing business.

Have u wondered why this kind of arrests were not occurring before?

These traders used to buy dollars from those BDC mallams, pay in the cash into their dom account and give instructions to do banker to credit the chinese manufacturers.

Now all of a sudden buhari brot a policy that cash deposit to dom account must stop.

Some of these traders already have dollar purchased, in fact majority of them keep their money in dollars cos fluctuations affect them too as per losses when dollar appreciates.

So with these dollars on them, they can't pay into their dollar account, do u expect them to burn d currency? Why must govt give a fiat order on economic issues that affect d economy without thinking of the consequences?

U cant tell me these traders are not aware of PTA & BTA which are $5000 & $10,000 respectively, they have to make out ways of spending their hard earned money in dollars which they can't transfer cos of d silly policy of PMB.

On the arrest issue, why are they not arresting those mallams who politicians are now using to discard their looted and starshed dollars, thereby transferring d risk n potential of arrest to traders. Why didn't EFCC arrest d mallam that sold them d dollars? There are elements of witch hunt and economic starvation to this policy n selective arrest.

bnovative:


Did u also read this:
"The source said that upon interrogation,
the traders were said to have mentioned
where they purchased the foreign
currency in the market, hence the visit of
the EFCC operatives to the Main Market
to arrest the dealers."

That the traders mentioned where they made the transaction is a different matter. The best you can charge the operators is for operating a bureau de change outside existing monetary regulations. This does not absolve the traders of culpability in money laundering as ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Biafra come fast fast jare... Make all man dey him own. Republic of Biafra we stand!

[quote author=HungerBAD post=38417633]Universally, anything up to $10.000, even if the post erroneously said it's $5000, not reported to the Customs at the Airport is an offense.

This is not a tribal thing.

Those Trying To Make this a witch hunt thing, are full of mischief.

All the traders needed to do was declare their MONEY.

Trying to sneak a large amount of money out of the country, knowingly or not, is an offense.

They broke the law, and there are consequences for that. And remember, ignorance is not an excuse before the law, incase they claim they did not know they were breaking the law.[/quote
We really need to be sure the law says you can't carry above or you have to declare accirqtly with reasons. But then again, let's assume you can't, Oga pmb has Alao made transfers and dorm accounts very cumbersome. The man wants to fight corruption at the expense of economic growth. He is not striking a balance at all. This approach is quite kindergarten. Not exactly professional and broadly thought out. I am getting worried about this government's approach now. It is firstly about the economy oh.

When we say people from the South Yeast are criminals some people eye go turn red.

Carrying more foreign currency than the stipulated amount is criminal, as is not declaring it.

These flat-heads broke the laws, but then igboe no sabi any law. All they know and understand are shortcuts to riches.

Go school, them no gree.

Tribe of touts and criminals.

HungerBAD:
Universally, anything up to $10.000, even if the post erroneously said it's $5000, not reported to the Customs at the Airport is an offense.

This is not a tribal thing.

Those Trying To Make this a witch hunt thing, are full of mischief.

All the traders needed to do was declare their MONEY.

Trying to sneak a large amount of money out of the country, knowingly or not, is an offense.

They broke the law, and there are consequences for that. And remember, ignorance is not an excuse before the law, incase they claim they did not know they were breaking the law.

Rubbish. The EFCC are thieves who have gone to the market to steal people's dollars.

If any trader is caught with over $10k, that's the business of Customs at the airport. They have a legal right to seize and investigate any monies found AT THE AIRPORT.

Wetin concern them with going into the market to steal money from currency exchangers? Did the currency exchangers try to smuggle more than $10k out of the country?

lomprico:


The source said that upon in­terrogation, the traders were said to have mentioned where they purchased the foreign currency in the market, hence the visit of the EFCC operatives to the Main Market to arrest the dealers.

I hope the above will remove the scales from your eyes.

Who were the dealers?

limen123:
Biafra come fast fast jare... Make all man dey him own. Republic of Biafra we stand!

Sorry to burst your bubble Sir, but even in. Hypothetical 'Biafra' this would still be an offence as the laws against money laundering is a global one. That you are not caught the airport in Biafra does not mean you may not be caught in an airport in Shanghai. All United Nations Countries are signatories to this effect trust me.

funkiebully:

In as much as I want to agree with u partly, I won't fail to point out to u that the present policy of PMB on forex transaction is killing business.

Have u wondered why this kind of arrests were not occurring before?

These traders used to buy dollars from those BDC mallams, pay in the cash into their dom account and give instructions to do banker to credit the chinese manufacturers.

Now all of a sudden buhari brot a policy that cash deposit to dom account must stop.

Some of these traders already have dollar purchased, in fact majority of them keep their money in dollars cos fluctuations affect them too as per losses when dollar appreciates.

So with these dollars on them, they can't pay into their dollar account, do u expect them to burn d currency? Why must govt give a fiat order on economic issues that affect d economy without thinking of the consequences?

U cant tell me these traders are not aware of PTA & BTA which are $5000 & $10,000 respectively, they have to make out ways of spending their hard earned money in dollars which they can't transfer cos of d silly policy of PMB.

On the arrest issue, why are they not arresting those mallams who politicians are now using to discard their looted and starshed dollars, thereby transferring d risk n potential of arrest to traders. Why didn't EFCC arrest d mallam that sold them d dollars? There are elements of witch hunt and economic starvation to this policy n selective arrest.

So, the government should compensate them for doing their conversions in the black market? You realize this is part of what's killing us?

The arrests didn't occur, and so what should've been stopped became normal - still didn't make it right.

If they have dollars on them and need to conduct international trades, they can still do that at the bank. People cry because it'll cost them a bit more now, but that's a tactical way of strengthening our currency and encouraging transparency.

You just can't break a law and complain because you know politicians do it too. Two wrongs don't make a right. Instead, play your part, then use the proper channels to expose those that break the law.

[s]

ExInferis:
When we say people from the South Yeast are criminals some people eye go turn red.

Carrying more foreign currency than the stipulated amount is criminal, as is not declaring it.

These flat-heads broke the laws, but then igboe no sabi any law. All they know and understand are shortcuts to riches.

Go school, them no gree.

Tribe of touts and criminals.

[/s]


Red oil gulping bastard. What do u know about business? Useless fetish ritualistic raping coward.

Clear from road let reasonable ppl discuss serious matter.

Anumpama!

rusher14:
The policy doesn’t need to be reversed.

Everywhere in the world, for such bulk transactions, a bank needs to be involved.

It helps with currency tracking, reduces the possibility of such funds being used for illicit trading / terrorism. It also helps as a control against money laundering and other offences.

I believe the money should be returned to the owners once their authenticity is verified. They should also be mentored on how future transactions are to be undertaken.

The EFCC / CBN should also make it a point of duty to go on road trips to educate traders on transactions are expected to be carried out.

Commercial banks who need such funds by the way should see this as an avenue for marketing their various products.

Then why EFCC go to d market to arrest the bureau de change guy. How many aboki bureau de change guys have been arrested. Stop forming intellectual my guy. This is pure witch hunting. Smh for this pathetic country called Nigeria

This people just cry witch hunting for every damn thing, na wah o and they won't seize to support their own even when it's glaring "their own" is doing something bad. They are the problem of this country but they think other people are

petikal:


So, the government should compensate them for doing their conversions in the black market? You realize this is part of what's killing us?

The arrests didn't occur, and so what should've been stopped became normal - still didn't make it right.

If they have dollars on them and need to conduct international trades, they can still do that at the bank. People cry because it'll cost them a bit more now, but that's a tactical way of strengthen our currency and encouraging transparency.

You just can't break a law and complain because you know politicians do it too. Two wrongs don't make a right. Instead, play your part, then use the proper channels to expose those that break law.

Young man, tell me how those that had dollar on them before this policy can transact in bank when banks no longer accept dollar deposit?

funkiebully:
[s][/s]


Red oil gulping bastard. What do u know about business? Useless fetish ritualistic raping coward.

Clear from road let reasonable ppl discuss serious matter.

Anumpama!

Now that is what I call 'FRANK TALK'.

funkiebully:



Young man, tell me how those that had dollar on them before this policy can transact in bank when banks no longer accept dollar deposit?

You can still convert your dollars at the bank, and conduct your transactions. What's your point?

okeybarca:

niversally, anything up to $10.000, even if the post erroneously said it's $5000, not reported to the Customs at the Airport is an offense.

This is not a tribal thing.

Those Trying To Make this a witch hunt thing, are full of mischief.

All the traders needed to do was declare their MONEY.

Trying to sneak a large amount of money out of the country, knowingly or not, is an offense.

They broke the law, and there are consequences for that. And remember, ignorance is not an excuse before the law, incase they claim they did not know they were breaking the law.
(Quote) (Report) 17 Likes (Like) 1 Share (Share)

If I may ask. Does Nigeria hv a law?.

not reported I agree. So can you report and get away with it? Are there exemptions to seizures? My friend declared 40k dolls on entry to the US and he was allowed in. So b4 we start screaming universal, I think it is to control illegal and dangerous behaviours. I am not sure trading is one. These actions have far reaching impacts. The international community will soon start screaming. International business will suffer.

HungerBAD:
Universally, anything up to $10.000, even if the post erroneously said it's $5000, not reported to the Customs at the Airport is an offense.

This is not a tribal thing.

Those Trying To Make this a witch hunt thing, are full of mischief.

All the traders needed to do was declare their MONEY.

Trying to sneak a large amount of money out of the country, knowingly or not, is an offense.

They broke the law, and there are consequences for that. And remember, ignorance is not an excuse before the law, incase they claim they did not know they were breaking the law.

Plz stop chatting about stuff you just heard and never verify, there is nothing as such, what you it says is YOU DO NOT NEED TO DECLARE ANYTHING LESS THAN $10000 BUT ANYTHING TO THAT VALUE MUST BE DECLARED.In thismodern day how are they meant to transfer $100000 to china??

petikal:


You can still convert your dollars at the bank, and conduct your transactions. What's your point?

Convert dollar to naira or what? Do they transact in naira?