By Fortune Eromosele

Abuja —The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, justified the interception and arrest of 21 trucks loaded with food items allegedly being smuggled into neighbouring countries, describing it as economic sabotage.

Spokesperson of the commission, Dele Oyewale while fielding questions from newsmen on Radio 97.3Fm, said nvestigations showed that the foodstuffs were cleverly concealed in the trucks that would have gone undetected but for the eagle-eyed vigilance of the EFCC operatives.

It will be recalled that on Tuesday, the EFCC arrested 21 trucks loaded with food and non-food items heading towards Borno neighbouring countries.

Oyewale said: “Anything that has a negative bearing on the economy is an act of economic sabotage or serving as a leakage, distortion or disequilibrium in the economy, the commission has a responsibility to tackle it and that is what the EFCC has done.

“It is not that the commission is throwing its nets towards the borders. An arrest can be made anywhere and the smugglers were arrested at the exit routes leading to Cameroon and Chad as a result of the effectiveness of our surveillance.

“They could have also been arrested anywhere else but the most important thing is that they were arrested for allegedly smuggling food items that could be useful to Nigerians, which they were not allowed to take out of the country.

“The commission is proactive and it is everywhere to ensure that the economy is revamped so that Nigerians can get optimum value.

“So, I think Nigerians should applaud the commission more for being so proactive enough to tackle such incidental crimes. We all need to join our hands together to ensure that this problem of economic sabotage is directly addressed.”