Less than 24 hours after the  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed an abandoned office of a Bureau de Change at Balogun Market, on Lagos Island and confiscated N250 million in Euros, Pounds Sterling and Naira, another N4 billion was found in Niger State, yesterday.

The money was traced, courtesy of a whistle blower, to a second generation bank account in the state.

The N4 billion, was “suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Investigations indicated that “the money belongs to a former deputy governorship candidate in Niger State. The suspect uses the names of two companies– Katah Property & Investment Limited and Sadiq Air Travel Agency- in laundering the funds.

“Each of the company has N2 billion fixed in its deposit account domiciled in Guaranty Trust Bank.

The suspected owner of the account and the account officer are currently on the run…”

Yesterday’s discovery would be the fifth time  in 2017, the Commission, acting on tip-off, would confiscate monies suspected to be proceeds of crime.

On Tuesday, March 14, 2017, EFCC operatives intercepted bags containing N49 million cash at Kaduna International Airport.

Although the owner of the cash has not been named, reports allege the money was intercepted, based on intelligence report.

Last weekend, the EFCC uncovered the sum of N448, 850, 000,  in a shop at LEGICO Shopping Plaza, in Victoria Island, Lagos.

A statement by the EFCC on Friday evening said “operatives of the Commission, acting on a tip-off by a concerned whistle-blower, swooped on the shopping complex and sought the identity of the owners of two shops, LS 64 and LS 67, which were under lock and key.

“The shops had signages of a Bureau de Change. Inquiries about the owner of shop 64 indicated that he had not been seen for a long time, as neighbours claimed the shop had not been opened for business for close to two years.

“Several calls were put to the owner of shop 67, but there was no response.

“The attention of the plaza’s chairman and some traders were drawn in order to force the shops open.

“There was no money found in shop 67, but, in shop 64, heaps of Ghana-Must-Go bags were found loaded on the floor of the shop. When the bags were unzipped they were found to contain bundles of naira notes totalling N448, 850, 000.

“Traders interviewed at the premises claimed they were not aware that such money was housed inside the shop, as the place hardly opens for business.’’

The statement said the money was stashed in several Ghana-Must-Go bags, in N500 and N1000 denominations, hidden in the shop, awaiting conversion into foreign currency.

It added that the commission was investigating the matter in order to unravel the ownership and source of the funds.