Department of State Services nabs members of syndicates selling new naira notes
As reactions continue to greet the extension of the deadline for the submission of old Nigerian currency notes before they seize to be legal tenders on February 10, the Department of State Services ( DSS) has been going hard on unscrupulous persons after its operatives arrested some members of organised syndicates involved in the sale of the newly redesigned naira notes.
Public Relations Officer, Peter Afunanya, said in a statement on Monday that syndicates colluded with some commercial bank officials and were arrested during the secret police’s operation in and around the nation.
“The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby informs the public that it has intercepted some members of organised syndicates involve /d in the sale of the newly redesigned naira notes,” the statement reads.
“In the course of its operations, in this regard in parts of the country, it was also established that some Commercial Bank officials are aiding the economic malfeasance.
“Consequently, the Service warns the currency racketeers to desist from this ignoble act. Appropriate regulatory authorities are, in this same vein, urged to step up monitoring and supervisory activities to expeditiously address emerging trends.
“It should be noted that the Service has ordered its Commands and Formations to further ensure that all persons and groups engaged in the illegal sale of the notes are identified. Therefore, anyone with useful information relating to this is encouraged to pass the same to the relevant authorities”, added the statement by Afunaya.
TMYNewspapers recalls that on Sunday the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) finally extended the deadline for the swap of old naira notes at commercial banks by 10 days.
The apex bank’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, while speaking to newsmen in Daura, Katsina, where he had gone to brief President Muhammadu Buhari on the issues surrounding the deadlines for the submission of the old notes, said the extension would enable the bank to mop up the remaining old notes in circulation and afford those in the rural areas more time to bank their old notes at the nearest banks close to them.
