The International Criminal Police Organisation for Africa says all paperwork has been completed for the extradition of the fleeing executive of Binance Holdings Limited, Nadeem Anjarwalla.

It added that it is currently engaging with the Kenyan government by presenting the relevant treaties, Memorandum of Understanding and other documents to convince the Kenyan government to release and send Anjarwalla back to Nigeria to face his trial.

The Vice-President of INTERPOL Africa,  Garba Umar, disclosed this on Tuesday while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

Anjarwalla, who was being held alongside his colleague, Tigran Gambaryan, for money laundering and tax evasion, fled the custody of the National Security Adviser on March 22 and escaped to Kenya.

The Federal Government said the activities of Binance, a cryptocurrency platform, were hurting the Nigerian currency, naira, leading to its free fall against the US dollar and other currencies.

The 38-year-old Briton-Kenyan was said to have escaped when security men guarding him led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the Ramadan fast.

He was, however, said to have been arrested last week in Kenya.

“Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, has been arrested by the Kenya Police Service, and he will be extradited to Nigeria this week by INTERPOL,” a government source, who was not authorised to speak on the matter, had told on condition of anonymity.

 “As we had said before that Anjarwalla would be extradited, he has been arrested in Kenya, and he’ll be extradited to Nigeria this week,” the official added.

Giving an update on the case on Tuesday, the Vice-President of INTERPOL Africa said efforts were on course to extradite Anjarwalla to Nigeria.

He said there was an ongoing engagement with the Kenyan government.

Umar said, “For every country, there is a law. If a fugitive escapes, there are processes which that country follows up on. INTERPOL will only provide information to assist that country, informing them about the bilateral agreements, the MOU, and the signed conventions for extraditing a fleeing fugitive. The process is ongoing.

“Nadeem is not an exception, and rest assured, we have all the cooperation, and we are working on it. And definitely, one day, he will be brought to justice. It is just a matter of time. We have completed all the paperwork. All the law enforcement agencies have completed the paperwork and handed it over to Interpol, which is working on it.”

Umar said INTERPOL was doing everything to secure the cooperation of the Kenyan government for Anjarwalla’s extradition to Nigeria.

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He vowed that sooner or later, the Binance executive would be extradited and made to face trial in Nigeria.

The INTERPOL VP said, “We are now doing everything possible to ensure that the country (Kenya) complies with INTERPOL rules of international police cooperation by initiating the extradition process to bring him back to face justice in Nigeria.”

Speaking about the efforts that led to the eventual arrest of the Binance chief, Umar said immediately after Anjarwalla escaped from custody in Nigeria, INTERPOL activated its networks across 196 countries to track him.

He said, “As soon as Nadeem Anjarwalla escaped, INTERPOL was officially informed. We went into action to gather all the data and information about him and share it across 196 countries. We were able to track his movements, know where he was going, and eventually, he landed in a particular country.

“Don’t forget, as soon as this individual escaped, there was a massive manhunt for him. We contacted many countries where we believed he might have boarded a plane or travelled by road to another location. We obtained certain information that I cannot share on this platform. Rest assured, we located his whereabouts, how he travelled, and gathered all the necessary information to prevent his escape from justice.”

Highlighting the broader context of transnational crime, particularly cybercrime, the INTERPOL VP underscored the need for technological advancements to combat such challenges.

He mentioned the deployment of AI and the introduction of METAVERSE RETROVIRUS to enhance INTERPOL’s capabilities in fighting cybercrime.

“The technology is good, but at times, it comes with consequences. And these consequences can be mitigated by bringing morality into it. This is worrisome, honestly, but INTERPOL, on its part, is bringing AI. But first, we are introducing the METAVERSE RETROVIRUS to help in artificial intelligence.

“We are doing a lot to assist law enforcement agencies across the globe to make sure that fighting cybercrime is the number one priority and to give them all the modern tools and services. The government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has established a state-of-the-art cybercrime centre run by the Nigeria Police Force. We have the best cybercrime centres, one in Rwanda and one in Nigeria, and they are all sophisticated,” Umar added.