Family members of Bureau De Change operators arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly financing terrorism have called on the Nigerian government to release their sons, husbands and fathers or take them to the court.
In March 2021, Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the Nigerian Government had arrested some Bureau De Change operators who were facilitating the transfer of money to Boko Haram terrorists.
He had said some Nigerians transferring money to the sect from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were working with the BDC operators.
“Bureau de change are facilitating money to terrorists. We have already worked with the UAE. Convictions have been achieved of Nigerians who are transferring money to Boko Haram terrorists and this also happens domestically. And I tell you that by the time we finish this investigation, the shocking details will surprise many Nigerians,” Shehu had said.
“Dozens of persons have been arrested by security agents in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on suspected financiers and collaborators of Boko Haram.”
Those arrested are being kept in military and DSS facilities in Abuja and other places.
It was learnt that the Nigerian government last month granted their family members access to them for the first time since their arrest, 11 months ago.
The protesters, who demonstrated in Kano on Wednesday, lamented that the absence of their breadwinners had continued to take a negative toll on their families.
