The Department of State Services (DSS) has apprehended Faisal Maina, son of former Pension Reform Task Team chairman Abdulrasheed Maina, following his return to Nigeria and handed him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Security sources said intelligence reports alerted the DSS to Faisal’s presence in the country, leading to his arrest in the Karsana area of Abuja.
“His arrest followed credible intelligence which indicated that Faisal had secretly returned to the country,” a source said.
According to the source, security operatives tracked Faisal before arresting him and subsequently transferring him to the EFCC for further action.
Faisal had been wanted since 2020, when the anti-graft agency arraigned him on three counts of money laundering.
In October 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja found him guilty of money laundering and handed him a 14-year jail term.
During the trial, Justice Okong Abang held that the EFCC had established that Faisal used a fictitious account with United Bank for Africa (UBA) in connection with the alleged laundering of ₦58.1m belonging to his father.
The court heard that the funds passed through an account named “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2” and were withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.
In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction but cut his sentence from 14 years to seven years, ruling that the maximum penalty should not have been imposed on a first-time offender.
His father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was also imprisoned for eight years over the laundering of ₦2bn in pension funds and served his sentence at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.
Although Maina was released earlier in 2026, he was later declared wanted in connection with an alleged receiving stolen property case.
