The Maryland State Police Department, USA on Sunday morning confirmed the arrest of the Executive Chairman of Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom state, Mr. Nse Ntuen, for smuggling $82, 000 into the United States without declaring it with the Customs officials both in Nigeria and the US.
Nse Ntuen, the Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), was on Friday arrested by operatives of the Maryland State Police Department at the BWI International Airport, Baltimore.
When contacted by our correspondent, Mr. Strike Thomas, an official of the Maryland State Police Department at the airport, said that the suspect only declared $5,000 when he got to the airport, adding that it was further security checks that indicated that he was still having some bundles of US Dollars in his bag.
The official who agreed to be quoted pressed further that the chairman who flew into the United Stated from London, United Kingdom was later taken to their investigation room where an additional $77, 000 was found in his bag.
It was gathered that Hon. Nse Ntuen accepted that he truly smuggled the money into the USA with the aim to use it as donations at the just-concluded Annual International Convention of the Akwa Ibom Indigenes in the United States and Canada which was held at the Marriot Hotel in Washington, DC.
The suspect was later made to write and sign a statement where he accepted that he brought in items which he failed to declared to both the Nigerian and United States Custom agencies. -
The official, who spoke with our correspondent, further disclosed that the Akwa Ibom state ALGON Chairman who was held for over five hours was later released after the whole $82, 000 he admitted to have smuggled into the country was confiscated by the Maryland State Police Department.
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