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he Department of State Services (DSS), have 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 terrorizing the peace of the country have have resorted to smuggling, robberies, kidnapping, and gold mining among others nefarious activities to get money.
Director General of the DSS, Yusuf Bichi, made this known, at the closing ceremony of a two-day workshop on Terrorism Financing Risk (TFR), organized 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 that 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 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 demanded 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 they are trying 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 to 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 armed.”
Bichi said the terrorists have adopted this style because they (security agencies) have superior weapons.
“But in our own strategy it is not the numbers that matter. If you want to be ahead of your opponent, if he is using a knife, you are using a gun. If he using AK-47 you are using something superior like GPMG, RPGs and what have. You must develop that sufficient force to counter terrorists.”
Bichi 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 the 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 for a defeat.
“It is only through intelligence that you would identify your enemy very well. You know his the arms he is holding, his associates and strategy and what have you. It is through intelligence that you can prosecute your cases successfully because data and intelligence is a synergy which always security agencies look for. It is through intelligence that you would be able to plan your strategy to fight the terrorist.
“Next to intelligence is strategy. You should know that the terrorists are equally intelligent people and they what to always be ahead of their opponents. So if you want to be ahead of them, you must disrupt their strategies.
“This country for the past decade or two have been fighting terrorism, insurgency and we are yet to see the end of the tunnel, but with the current zeal in the fight against terrorism, blocking terrorist financing efforts, the end of the tunnel is about to be seen”.
Credit: sunnewsonline
