September
6, 2007 --
Abuja - Financial crime fighters in Nigeria, the US and
Britain found thousands of fraudulent documents in an analysis
of the mail leaving Nigeria, showing how criminals defraud
millions of dollars in various currencies.
Osita
Nwajah, spokesman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, said in Abuja Thursday that agents from the
three agencies went through tons of outbound parcels from
the state mail service and private companies, like FedEx
and UPS in the first such multi-national operation.
"The
operation produced startling discoveries of how criminal
elements operating from Nigeria, shipped fake documents
and counterfeit financial instruments abroad," he said.
"In several packages were found fraudulent identification
and counterfeit financial instruments neatly concealed in
carbon paper to evade the sensors of scanners."
More
than 15,000 counterfeit cheques related to advance fee fraud
scams were intercepted, including nearly 7,000 blank cheques
and others drawn for millions in international currencies
- amounting to 145.9 million dollars, about 211 million
euros, more than 2 million British pounds and 120,450 Canadian
dollars.
The
operations opened up new investigations leading to the arrest
and prosecution of a number of suspects, he said.
Similar
operations were carried out simultaneously in Spain, the
Netherlands, Britain, Canada and the US.
Copyright
2007 by monstersandcritics.com
