Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has identified betting and fintech platforms, wire transfer, crypto exchange, and spare parts businesses, among others, as channels used in moving proceeds of Kidnapping for Ransom (KFR) in and out of the country.
Other channels include livestock, bank accounts, and the use of formal and informal sectors. Although the agency did not disclose the names of the platforms, businesses and individuals, alphabetical representation described the ugly trend inside the analysis.
This development was contained in NFIU’s analysis of Typologies for money laundering through KFR in Nigeria, where it affirmed that Nigeria had strong laws at both federal and state levels, along with counterterrorism and money laundering regulations, to address the issue of kidnapping for ransom.
The analysis reads: A betting platform, Platform X, filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) with NFIU concerning a client identified as ‘Customer’. Customer A is a 24-year-old male residing in Bwari, Abuja. He received N351,000 in his betting wallet, which was ransom money paid by the families of a kidnap victim. The payment was instructed to be deposited into the betting wallet. After receiving the funds, Customer A attempted to transfer the money to his bank account at Bank A, but the platform declined the transaction.
“The NFIU reviewed the STR and forwarded the intelligence report to a law enforcement agency for further investigation. A law enforcement agency requested information from NFIU on a subject herein referred to Mr A, who is said to have received a ransom for a kidnap victim via his account on a fintech platform A.”
The analysis revealed that, upon receiving the funds in his fintech account, Mr A transferred the funds to some individuals through conventional bank accounts in smaller tranches. Also, bank accounts of kidnap victims are reportedly used by kidnappers to receive ransom, which is withdrawn in small tranches from Point of Sale (POS) operators. The victim is killed thereafter.
According to the intelligence unit, despite existing laws, the practice continues to thrive in the country, revealing that, since 2019, there have been 735 mass abductions in Nigeria, with 3,620 people abducted in 582 kidnapping cases between July 2022 and June 2023.
It further revealed that an estimated N5 billion ($3,878,390) was paid as ransom during this period, maintaining that to effectively combat these issues, it is essential to track the financial transactions of those involved in these activities.
On a geographical heatmap for ‘Kidnapping and hostage Keeping in Nigeria’, NFIU noted: According to the DIA respondent, the most vulnerable states for kidnapping for ransom are classified into Northern and Southern regions.
“States identified in the Northern region include Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Kogi and Borno, while states in the Southern part are Ondo, Rivers, Delta, Imo and Edo,” it added.
The Guardian gathered that the most abused routes for kidnapping for ransom in and out of Nigeria were Zamfara/Sokoto/Gusau road, Katsina/Birnin-Kebbi road, Kaduna/Abuja Road, Niger/Abuja and Abuja/Lokoja highway in the Northern Region, while in the South, Benin/Lagos highway, Port Harcourt/Owerri Road, Enugu/Onitsha road, Ibadan-Lagos road and Ibadan-Ilorin highway were vulnerable.
Based on DIA experiences, the mode of transporting hostages in and out of Nigeria is motorcycles through densely forested areas and the use of vehicles through forested areas that provide cover and concealment.
