Why We Arrested Truckloads Of Foods Being Smuggled Into Neighbouring Countries – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has defended why it arrested a truckload of food on Tuesday.

Recall THE WHISTLER reported that the Commission arrested some trucks carting foodstuffs into Niger, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic among others.

However, on Wednesday, the EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale while fielding questions in an interview on EFCC Radio, described the foodstuffs allegedly being smuggled into those countries as economic sabotage.

According to him, the Commission is saddled with the mandate of tackling all forms of economic and financial crimes, especially those directly affecting the economy.

“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 added 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.”

He therefore urged the public to commend and support the Commission for spreading its wings across the country.

He explained that 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.