The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, on Wednesday in Lyon, France, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Interpol National Central Bureau for Nigeria, granting it unhindered access to its criminal records so as to enhance its operations.

The agreement on Direct Access to and Use of Interpol Information Systems, grants the EFCC unrestricted access to nine key global databases containing 114 million records of 195 countries hosted by the Interpol on its i24/7 secure global records and communication system.

A statement by the Spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, and made available to Vanguard on Friday, says that the access to the Interpol databases is a significant boost to the EFCC as it enhances the commission’s operational capabilities by giving it an unparalleled global reach against suspected criminals and wanted persons attempting to flee from the long arm of the law.

The global criminal databases that the EFCC now has unhindered access to, include:

i. Nominal Database containing records of personal data and the criminal history of people subject to request for international police cooperation

ii. Stolen and Lost Travel and Identity Documents (SLTD) Database containing information on travel and identity documents reported as stolen, lost revoked, invalid or stolen blank.

iii. Travel Documents Associated with Notices (TDOWN) Databases, containing records of all extracted information from all Interpol Notices

iv. Stolen Administrative Documents (SAD) Database, which has records of stolen official documents that serve to identify objects, for example, vehicle registration documents and clearance certificates for import/export.

v. Digital Interpol Alert Library Doc (Dial Doc) containing records of newly detected forms of travel documents counterfeiting

vi. Edison, a Forensic database that contains genuine travel documents

vii. Fingerprints Database grants authorized users in member countries access to view, submit and cross-check records in the fingerprints database via a user-friendly automatic fingerprint identification system (AFIS)

viii. iARMS contains over a million records of lost, stolen, trafficked or smuggled firearms. iARMS can identify firearms trafficking patterns and smuggling routes

ix. Stolen Motor Vehicles (SMV) Database contains extensive identification details from all types of motor vehicles and identifiable spare parts reported as stolen.