Justice M. S. Shuaibu of the Federal High Court, Kano, has convicted and sentenced a woman, Hauwa Abdullahi Ibrahim, for laundering the sum of $1, 154, 900 million USD and SDR135, 900 Saudi Riyals, from Saudi Arabia into Nigeria.
Justice Shuaibu convicted and sentenced the woman after she pleaded guilty to the two counts charge of money laundering preferred against her by the Kano Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).
The convicted woman, Ibrahim was arrested by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport for attempting to smuggle the above mentioned sums into Nigeria from Saudi Arabia. The funds which she failed to declare, as required by law, prompting her immediate arrest.
Following her arrest, the Nigeria Customs Service handed her over to the EFCC for further investigation and prosecution.
Upon conclusion of the investigation, the EFCC thereafter charged her to court on two-count charges of money laundering under Section 3(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Upon her arraignment, she pleaded guilty to both count charges when they were read to her.
In view of her plea, the EFCC prosecutor, Musa Isah, reviewed the facts of the case, as well, tendered some exhibits which includes the undeclared amount and subsequently prayed the court to convict her accordingly.
However, Justice Shuaibu allowed an allocutus which opportune Ibrahim to narrate her story before the court.
In her allucutor, the convicted woman disclosed that she was approached by one Nafiu in Saudi Arabia, who allegedly solicited her assistance to carry along one box from Saudi to Nigeria.
She said when she enquired about the content of the box, she said she allegedly told her that it was date and small amount of cash. Taking Nafiu at his word, the convict accepted to take the box.
She further stated that Nafiu gave her a phone of one particular woman who will collect the box from her upon arrival in Kano. And that upon arriving at the Kano airport, Ibrahim stated that she called the number given to her by Nafiu and the woman came, and she handed over the box to her.
However, after leaving the airport, she was recalled by the airport authorities to return with her international passport to clear the box as she was the one that brought it to Nigeria. And upon her retrun, she was arrested and was shown the contents of the box she flown in with.
She pleaded with the court to spare her as she had no knowledge of the contents of the box and that she was deceived by the sender who told her that the box only contained dates and small amount of money.
In view of her plea for mercy, Justice Shuaibu convicted the defendant as charged and ordered the forfeiture of the undeclared money to the Federal Government in line with Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022.
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