$2.1bn arms deal: EFCC operative arrested for collecting N45m bribe from indicted military officers

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested one of its operatives, Abdulrahman Mohammed Biu, a Deputy Detective Superintendent for allegedly collecting $150,000 (about N45 million) from seven yet to be named military officers currently under investigation for their involvement in the $2.1 billion arms procurement fraud.

A statement issued by EFCC’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said Abdulrahman collected the money from the indicted military officers with a promise to give them soft landing to escape probe.

The statement said:

“An operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrahman Mohammed Biu, a Deputy Detective Superintendent, (DDS) has been arrested for offences bordering on extortion, influence peddling and impersonation. The officer was arrested on Monday following intelligence report alleging that he extorted a whopping sum of $150,000 from some military officers on the pretext that he would help give them a soft landing in the ongoing investigation into the arms deal scandal. Upon his arrest, a search was executed on his residence in Abuja where the following items were recovered: $20,000 cash, N500, 000 cash, two police uniforms bearing his name with the ranks of Deputy Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent, Police warrant card No: 27/2014 with the rank of DSP allegedly obtained from Kano Constabulary office, documents relating to military arms investigation and account information of several senior military officers. A search of his car parked in the premises yielded the following items: unbranded pistol with a magazine and 10 live ammunitions. His modus operandi includes dropping the names of ranking officers of the commission, claiming he was acting on their behalf. A paper containing seven of such names was recovered in his house. The suspect has made useful statement, while investigation continues.”.