The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has said it has contributed in large measure to the Operations of INTERPOL targeting transnational criminal organisations that engage in large-scale fraud and cyber-crimes.
NFIU noted that their collaboration with the International Police (INTERPOL) has also yielded successful results in the criminal justice value chain.
NFIU CEO, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, disclosed this at the 10th INTERPOL African Working Group on Cybercrime Meeting, held in Abuja.
Bakari noted that the management and staff of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit believe that the cyber-crime brainstorming event hosted by INTERPOL, the Nigeria Police Force, and the National Central Bureau will be a transformative one for the future of the collective fight against cybercrime.
She hinted that NFIU is the central national authority responsible for the receipt of financial disclosures, the analysis of these reports to identify terrorist financing, money laundering, and other serious crimes, and the preparation and dissemination of credible, actionable intelligence to law enforcement authorities to aid the efforts to combat criminal activity.
According to her, this role requires the Unit to develop close working relationships across the entire criminal justice chain in order to ensure that we are providing the right intelligence, at the right time and to the right person.
“This collaboration and cooperation is at the heart of what we do and also at the centre of our national Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing framework.
“I am pleased to report that in the last five years, our partnership with INTERPOL has been one of the most successful.
“This relationship has been based on leveraging new and advanced technologies such as INTERPOL’s i-247 database which supports our operations and the Crimes Records Information Management System, a secure online platform developed in-house by the NFIU, which supports the exchange of intelligence and has been deployed to the NCB by the Unit.
“The NFIU has also been pleased to contribute resources to facilitate the work of INTERPOL and in particular seconding officers to the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre as well as to Afripol.
“Our partnership also extends to building capacity and as part of the MoU we signed with INTERPOL in 2022 we are exploring a range of capacity-building initiatives that will support Nigeria’s agencies more effectively follow the money trail to help unravel criminal networks and seize proceeds of illicit activity.
“The NFIU has also been an active contributor to the Operations of INTERPOL targeting trans-national organised criminal organisations that engage in large-scale fraud and cyber-crime.
“Through our participation in Operation Haechi, we have made available intelligence that has contributed to identifying the flow of funds illegally obtained by these organisations.”
