By Oluwakemi Kindness
The Nigeria Police Force has established a Proceeds of Crime Section to strengthen its efforts against money laundering, terrorism financing and other financial crimes.
The new section will be headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police and is expected to enhance the Force’s capacity to trace and disrupt the financial networks supporting criminal and terrorist activities.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Ani Iniedu, disclosed this on Sunday during a news briefing at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
He said the initiative formed part of the institutional reforms being implemented under Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu.
As part of the new approach, Disu met with the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Hafsat Bakari, to strengthen collaboration and expand financial intelligence training for police personnel.
The Force said the collaboration is particularly important as Nigeria implements targeted sanctions against 54 designated terrorism financiers under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The Proceeds of Crime Section is expected to support intelligence-led investigations by focusing on the financial assets and networks linked to organised crime and terrorism.
The police said strengthening financial intelligence would complement conventional policing by targeting the resources that enable criminal and terrorist activities.
The Force reiterated its commitment to working with relevant financial intelligence and security institutions to disrupt the financing of crime and terrorism in Nigeria.
