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From Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Department of State Services (DSS) said that concentrating on banks and other formal transactions to track terrorism finances in the country may not yield a positive result, as the terrorists have developed non formal transactions to raise funds.
It said terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminals terrorising the peace of the country have resorted to smuggling, robberies, kidnapping, and gold mining, among other nefarious activities, to get money.
Director General, DSS, Yusuf Bichi, made the disclosure at the closing ceremony of a two-day workshop on Terrorism Financing Risk (TFR), organised for law enforcement agencies and judicial officers by the agency.
Bichi, while noting that concentrating on banking transactions alone to track terrorism finances would not achieve result, however, said with the current zeal in the fight against insurgency, and blocking terrorist financing efforts, the security challenge in the country would soon be a thing of the past.
He said: “There is a new zeal among the security agencies to finish this war in the shortest possible time. Time is of essence.
“Smuggling, instead of formal transactions. They buy goods from one country and sell them in another. They engage in bank robberies. There lies the alliance between bandits and terrorists, and that is why they have resorted to kidnapping. And kidnapping brings quick money to them. They demand N100 million, N200 million and what have you.
“And what do they request for? Not bank cheques but cash. Not dollars but naira. Why they don’t want dollars is because they are trying to avoid fake currencies. They know that if we are to give them our own currency, it would take time before you produce millions of fake currencies. That is why they have the time to count. One kobo you short them, they request for another person to come and rescue the man that came to give them the money.
“So you should be able to track their methods. They buy gold, they engage in gold mining. They take this gold outside the country and then they send something in return to them. And that is why you see it is a vicious cycle. You cannot defeat them at once. And they strike alliances and the alliance presently is between bandits and terrorists. Why do they have to do that?
They are thinking of numbers. Once they go out, if they are to attack any place, gone are the days of, maybe, one man riot squad, two, three, tens. They now come in hundreds and all of them are armed.”
Bichi said the terrorists have adopted this style because they (security agencies) have superior weapons. He said there must be synergy among security agencies and other stakeholders in the fight against terrorism.
Bichi, who maintained that intelligence was very important in the fight against terrorism, said: “If you want to fight terrorism, or you want to track terrorism financing, intelligence is always crucial. That is why if you apply Sun Tzu’s theory, know yourself and know your enemy, you will always emerge victorious. But, if you know yourself and you don’t know your enemy, you are courting defeat.
