EFCC: Why we arrested 21 food trucks

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has said its arrest of 21 trucks loaded with food items is in line with its mandate of tackling all forms of economic and financial crimes that directly affect the economy to avert sabotage.

EFCC operatives of the Maiduguri zonal command on Wednesday arrested 21 trucks loaded with food and non-food items heading towards N’djamena, Chad Republic, Central African Republic, and Cameroon in a sting operation at major exit routes along Kalabiri/Gamboru Ngala and Bama Roads, Borno State.

“Investigation showed food items cleverly concealed in the trucks that would have gone undetected but for the eagle-eyed vigilance of operatives of the commission.
Further checks showed that the waybills covering the goods carried by trucks indicated their destinations as N’djamena, Chad Republic, Central Africa Republic, and Cameroon, respectively,” Dele Oyewale, spokesperson for the anti-graft agency said in a statement.

While defending the involvement of the EFCC in the stoppage of the smuggling of the truckload of food items, Oyewale while fielding questions in an interview session with a radio station that the anti-graft agency is saddled with the mandate of tackling all forms of economic and financial crimes, especially issues that directly affect the economy to avert sabotage.

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He, however, said the arrest does not indicate that the EFCC is deploying its operatives to the border areas of the country.

“Anything that has a negative bearing on the economy is an act of economic sabotage or serving as a leakage, distortion or disequilibrium in the economy, the Commission has a responsibility to tackle it and that is what the EFCC has done”, he said.

Continuing, the image maker explained that, “it is not that the Commission is throwing its nets towards the borders, an arrest can be made anywhere, and the smugglers were arrested at the exit routes leading to Cameroon and Chad as a result of the effectiveness of our surveillance. They could have also been arrested anywhere else but the most important thing is that they were arrested for allegedly smuggling food items that could be useful to Nigerians, which they were not allowed to take out of the country”.

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He urged the public to commend and support the Commission for spreading its wings across the country, “the Commission is proactive and it is everywhere to ensure that the economy is revamped so that Nigerians can get optimum value. So, I think Nigerians should applaud the Commission more for being so proactive enough to tackle such incidental crimes. We all need to join our hands together to ensure that this problem of economic sabotage is directly addressed”, he said.