- Nigeria is ramping up efforts to secure the extradition of Binance Regional Manager for Africa Nadeem Anjarwalla.
- An Interpol Official has expressed confidence that the Binance executive will be brought to face the law in Nigeria.
- The Binance executive and his colleague Tigran Gambaryan have been named in criminal charges against their employers in the African country.
Nigeria is not giving up the hunt for Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance‘s regional head for Africa. In February 2024, Nigerian authorities invited Anjarwalla and his colleague Binance Chief Financial Crime Compliance Officer Tigran Gambaryan to discuss resolving tensions with their employers as the government accused the platform of facilitating the devaluation of the naira. On honoring the request, however, they quickly realized that there was more to the invitation than met the eye.
On February 28, days after their arrival, both men were detained by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the country’s anti-graft agency, for refusing to discuss the sharing customer details outside their embassies. After spending nearly a month in detention with no formal charges, on March 22, Anjarwalla carried out a daring escape that kicked off an international manhunt.
Sponsored
Commenting on the matter, a high-ranking Interpol official has asserted that the body is confident it will bring the fleeing Binance executive to book.
“He Will Be Smoked Out”
In a Tuesday, April 30 interview with a local news outlet, Nigeria’s Garba Baba Umar, one of three Vice Presidents in Interpol’s executive committee, expressed confidence that Anjarwalla, last traced to Kenya, will be extradited to Nigeria.
"He [Anjarwalla] may be in Kenya, he may be in hiding, he might have even left Kenya but because of the notices we have given, wherever he is, he will be smoked out," Umar asserted.
The Interpol official suggested that the agency was already running comprehensive investigations and was ready to begin the extradition process once Nigeria obtained a red notice, a request issued by Interpol to secure the arrest of a fugitive pending extradition.
Different Circumstances
If extradited, Anjarwalla will return to Nigeria under very different circumstances. Following his escape, Nigerian authorities charged the Binance executive and his colleague Tigran Gambaryan with tax evasion and money laundering against his employers.
Sponsored
At the same time, Nigeria’s crypto crackdown has extended beyond crypto exchanges to crypto traders. The EFCC recently froze over 1,100 accounts pending investigations that could lead to prosecutions for money laundering and terrorism financing.
On the Flipside
- Binance maintains that it is still trying to resolve issues with Nigerian authorities.
- Recent comments from Nigerian authorities suggest they may take the recent clampdown to Bybit, KuCoin, and OKX next.
Why This Matters
The statements from the Interpol VP suggest that Nigeria is taking every step to secure the extradition of Binance’s Anjarwalla.
Learn more about Anjarwalla’s daring escape:
Detained Binance Executive “Jailbreaks” Nigerian Custody
Stay up to date with the latest in the Ethereum security status debacle:
How Year-Long ETH Security Probe Paints SEC Into a Corner
