The Nigeria Customs Service, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command, said it intercepted a total of $578,000 falsely declared by an inbound passenger coming into Nigeria from South Africa.

The Customs Area Controller in charge of the command, John Harrison, announced this while addressing journalists at the command on Friday.

He explained that the suspect, Mr Okorie Sunday, came into the country on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, with the money undeclared and hidden in his body.

According to him, the passenger, on arriving at the airport, started acting strange, which warranted a search by the officers on duty.

“The passenger was said to have declared $279,000 and hid $299,000 on his body, bringing the total money to $578, 000. This contravenes the threshold of $10,000 approved by law,” Harrison said.

Harrison added that the suspect also concealed £100 and a counterfeit $250. The cash that was handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was jointly counted and confirmed by customs and the anti-graft agency.

The CAC highlighted that such unlawful behaviour undermines the integrity of the nation’s financial system.

Harrison mentioned that customs has provided forms at the counters of all airlines to allow passengers to make the lawful declaration.

While receiving the intercepted cash, the acting Zonal Director of EFCC, Ahmed Ghali, urged members of the public to avoid such crimes advising that any cash over $10,000 should be declared as provided by law.

Ghali added that such an act exposes the country to money laundering and could make the country look like a hub for illicit financial inflows.

He said the EFCC will investigate and verify if the money is genuine or fake while taking further investigative action.