••• SELLS NEW NAIRA NOTES TO SUSPECTED SYNDICATE
Some members of staff of a popular supermarket in Area 10, Abuja, Sahad Store, on Wednesday hijacked two Automatic Teller Machines at the company’s premises for a the illicit trade in new Naira notes .
Our correspondent who was at the super market joined the two queues to to withdraw some cash without success as the members of Sahad store shut down the machines that were still dispensing.
The ATM machines were paying the new N1000 note to customers and the process continue for about an hour.
Curiously, it was discovered that the members of staff of the Sahad Store formed majority of members on the two queues.
And most of them were withdrawing money from the machine which were paying a maximum of N20,000 with two or more ATM cards.
When the Network sought to know why there so many members of staff òf Sahad store with their crested shirts on the queue, a man simply pointed to a fair skinned lady and another person transferring money to some of the workers while receiving the cash from them.
It became clear that the workers were withdrawing the money and selling it at the ATM point brazenly to racketeers or clients purchasing the new Naira from them.
When the non members of staff who were in the queue complained, a supervisor of the supermarket said that the ATM was not meant to serve the public but the supermarket.
The supervisor then said he had the instruction of the General Manager to shut down the two machines.
However, when he was confronted with receipts from Sahad store that many of the people on the queue were also customers, he simply shrugged it off and put off the machines.
The angry and frustrated customers protested his action but he ran inside abs refused to come out.
The Network made efforts to contact a man who had the tag of Secretary of Sahad store identified as Salihu, to ask why a staff of Sahad store and indeed the GM would order shutting down of a a bank’s ATM that was serving Nigerians.
The store’s secretary responded that the decision to shut down the machines came from the bank itself and not the store.
When pressed further to explain why the bank would shut down two machines in this era of scarcity of the new Naira notes in violation of CBN directives, he said it was meant solely for customers.
When he was reminded that the people who were in the queue including the Network correspondent were all customers, he apologized and promised to put on the machine but never did and he simply disappeared.
Our correspondent then contacted the Head Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to hint the commission of moves being made by currency racketeers to scuttle the current policy.
Our correspondent told a top official of the EFCC of the new strategy of hijack of ATMs in discreet locations meant to serve the public.
The EFCC got the location of the two ATM point where the reprehensible sale of physical Naira for online Naira was taking place and promised action on the development.
The Economic had deployed large number of operatives in banks across Nigerian cities to monitor the distribution of the new Naira notes.
The Network investigation revealed that the various zones of the EFCC have deployed operatives to work discretely with bank workers to track those involved in the rampant racketeering of the new Naira notes.
A source who spoke to the Network on the condition of anonymity said that the EFCC is focusing on anybody with large quantity of the new Naira notes.
The Network investigation revealed that bank officials across Nigeria are exploiting the scarcity of the Naira and the desperation by the public to access the new Naira note to sell it to willing buyers and abominable percentages.
There are videos of people ‘spraying’ large quality of the new notes in parties, wedding ceremonies and other in spite of the fact that Nigerians cannot access the new notes.
In Abuja, banks are under strict instruction to disperse the new notes only through the Automated Teller Machines.
Some of the ATM machines are programmed to pay N4,000 with N200 notes.
It was also observed that the queues for the new notes are getting longer.
Meanwhile the EFCC on Tuesday nabbed some of those involved in the racketeering of the Naira in Abuja.
The Spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement that the EFCC also met with bank officials in connection with the issue.
He said that the commission arrested members of a syndicate of currency racketeers hoarding and trading with the redesigned Naira notes in separate operations in Zone 4 and Dei Dei Axis of Abuja.
He said that the EFCC operation was carried following intelligence “on activities of unscrupulous currency speculators who were exploiting desperate citizens by offering them the new Naira notes for foreign currencies at below the going rate.”
According to him the suspects made useful statements and confessed to the commission that they were acting in cahoot with officials of Money Deposit Banks.
“The Commission will extend the operation to all the major commercial centres of the country until all the syndicates involved in the illegal trade are demobilised. Financial system operators are also warned to desist from the sharp practices or risk arrest and prosecution.
“Zonal Commanders of the EFCC today, also met with officials of various banks in their Commands in an effort to ascertain the volume of the new notes issued to the commercial banks and how the banks were dispensing the monies to their customers.
“The Commanders urged the financial market operators to ensure compliance with the guidelines set by the Central Bank of Nigeria, while disclosing that they have dispatched operatives across their Commands to monitor the level of compliance by banks and other operators in the financial market.” He added
