The arraignment of 19 Bureau De Change operators alleged to have been operating illegally without lincense within the Lagos metropolis was aborted today.
The arraignment which ought to take place today at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos was abruptly cancelled and the 20 count charge filed against them struck out.
When the case was mentioned, Usman Bello, the Police Legal Officer from State Criminal Investigation Department Panti Yaba, Lagos, told the court that the defendants were brought to court for arraignment.
Thereafter, four lawyers announced their appearance for the defendants. However, before the commencement of the arraignment, the prosecutor told the court that he had just received an order from the office that the charge should be withdrawn.
Consequently, the presiding Judge, Lewis Allagoa, struck out the charge.
Count one of the charge as filed before the court by the combined team of Police’s Legal Officers, read:
COUNT 1
THAT YOU IBRAHIM JUBRIL’ M’, ABDULLAHI ABUBAKAR ‘M’, IBRAHIMHASSAN ‘M’, ADAMU ISIAKA ‘M’, IBRAHIM ABDULRAHMAN ‘M’, JUBRIL HASSAN ‘M’, MOHAMMED ISIAKA’M’, MOHAMMED AMINU ‘M’, ADAMU IBRAHIM ‘M’, HASSAN AHMADU ‘M’, SALISU HAMIDU’ M’, MAHMOUD MOHAMMED ‘M, MURTALA USMAN ‘M’, HASSAN YAKUBU BALGUDA ‘M’; ABDULLAHI KABIRIMOHAMMED ‘M’, ALI SADAM ‘M’, AHAMADU YUSUF ‘M’, ABDULLAHI HUSSAIN, ALHAJI SIDO, AND OTHERs STILL AT LARGE, ON OR BEFORE THE 21ST DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2024 WITHIN THE METROPOLIS OF LAGOS NIGERIA, WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT OF NIGERIA, DID INTENTIONALLY, KNOWINGLY/UNLAWFULLY CONSPIRED WITH EACH OTHER AND OTHERS AT LARGE, TO OPERATE FOREX TRADINGS AS BUREAU DE CHANGE (BDC) WITHIN DESIGNATED STREETS IN LAGOS, WITHOUT DISPLAY/BEING IN POSSESSION OF LICENSE TO OPERATE SAME, AND THEREBY COMMITTED AN OFFENCE CONTRARY TO AND PUNISHABLE UNDER SECTION 17(a)(b)(c) OF THE MONEY LAUNDERING (PROHIBITION) ACT CAP. M18 LAWS OF FEDERATION OF NIGERIA 2010.