Crimes: EFCC, NSCDC collaborate on forensic investigation

*The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps partner to foster capacity building of personnel and training on criminal cases management, among other areas of speciality to reduce crimes in the country

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As part of efforts at enhancing capacity building and training on criminal cases management, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have partnered on the deployment of forensic investigation to track criminals in the economy.

The partnership was established when NSCDC Forensic Unit officers paid a visit to EFCC Headquarters Forensic Laboratory Tuesday, September 13, 2022, in Abuja, FCT.

Mr. Tersoo Shaapera, Head of NSCDC Forensic and Psychological Services, said that the visit to the EFCC office was imperative, as an advanced agency in crimes forensic study and analysis, agency report said.

Shaapera said that the collaboration was to foster capacity building of personnel, and training on criminal cases management, among other areas of speciality.

The NSCDC top official described the EFCC’s Forensic Laboratory as one of the best in Africa. “We know your system is bigger than ours and we know we can profit from the commission.

“The Corps is not yet there but we are not where we used to be.

“We are here to create a physical bond so that when there are issues it could be presented to EFCC as we are all government agencies,” said Shaapera.

He also noted that the two regulatory agencies need to collaborate to understand why criminals continuously commit crimes, which at times are same in nature.

The NSCDC Head of Forensic and Psychological Services further said: “It will help us to reduce crime and also know if it is psychologically related.”

He noted that Ahmed Audi, Corps Commandant-General, saw the need for the establishment of the unit to meet the obligation of crime prevention and response.

“The unit was created to protect the nation’s critical national assets and infrastructure from criminals alongside other reasons,” noted Shaapera.

According to him, the unit has been able to conduct psychological profiling, investigate motives behind crimes and adopted confidentiality of documents.

Speaking during the NSCDC team’s visit, Mr. Benedict Agweye, Director of Forensic Department at EFCC, stated that the collaboration would help in curbing crimes.

Agweye, represented by EFCC Forensics Head, Mr. Gideon Dashong, described  forensic analysis as broad.

He disclosed that the anti-graft regulatory Commission is involved in a large number of aspects.

Agweye said: “We too can benefit in some aspects that we don’t have, but whatever areas you will need our specialty, the Corps should write to the commission for approval.”

The Director advised the Corps to have pictorial and graphical information of all suspects arrested to enhance operations in the unit.

This measure will also help in information sharing among security agencies to help in the fight against insecurity and criminality in Nigeria, stated he.

Agweye further said forensics is time-consuming and an analyst needs to be analytical to avoid incriminating innocent suspects.

During the visit, report indicates the NSCDC delegation visited the EFCC fingerprint processing room, quality control and assurance room, digital lab, forensic document examination, finger print and crime scene, among others.

The Forensic Director also said that the data got from the processing of finger prints help to identify suspects and criminals with multiple identities.

He, however, said in order to avoid documents got during investigation not to be thrown out of court rooms, it was important to limit compromise and ensure confidentiality.

He said that the Commission adopted the use of chain of custody, evidence collection and evidence submission forms to achieve quality standard of operations.

According to him, knowing how to effectively collect data from phones and computer is important as it serves as major exhibit.

When investigating cybercriminals, the Commission’s experiences have enabled it to match up to the criminals’ tactics.

Agweye said: “We noticed they are able to work together and trust themselves a lot and have a good cooperation.

“They work in syndicate than alone and most times they have hidden crimes but we have softwares that we use to keep up.

“Phones password is a bit of a problem but we have tools now to crack these passwords.”

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