Five arrested with N108m fake currencies
Five men were on Monday paraded by the Lagos State Police Command for printing local and foreign currencies.
Two of the suspects, Femi Jacob and
Ramon Adeoye, were arrested at Ogunlana Street, Alagbado with eight
printing machines and a large quantity of printed fake notes in Naira,
Dollars, Pounds, Euros and Cedis totalling N8m.
Isaka Usman and Akeem Ayobado were also
arrested at Ikorodu with 14 printing machines, one cutting machine and
N100m fake notes. The fifth suspect, Onyeka Ibe, was allegedly an
Anambra-based buyer, who usually comes to Lagos to buy fake currencies.
The state Command’s Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Umar Manko, said, “This syndicate has been in operation for
over five years. Their customers are spread across several African
countries like the Republic of Benin, Mali, Ghana, Togo, Liberia and
Sierra Leone.
“The Officer-in-Charge of SARS,
Superintendent of Police Abba Kyari, got a tip-off about the operations
of the syndicate some weeks ago and mounted surveillance at Jacob’s
Alagbado residence. It was Jacob’s confessional statement after his
arrest that led to the arrest of Ayodabo who is the leader of the
syndicate.
“This case will eventually be handed
over to operatives of Interpol because of the negative implications the
fake currencies outflow might have had on the economies of the West
African countries.”
The CP said the cutting machine was owned by Ayodabo and procured from the Republic of Benin
One of the suspects, Ibe said, “I often
come down to Oluwole Street in Lagos Island. That is where Ayodabo has
his shop. I would spend N5,000 to get currency worth N100,000. I
usually buy currency worth between N500,000 and N700,000.”
The fake notes which were on display
during the parade looked real enough to have kept the syndicate in
business for five years with customers spread across the continent.
Adeoye told PUNCH METRO that he was
arrested at Iyana Ipaja, adding, “I am just an errand boy, my duty was
to deliver fake currencies to buyers. I was on my way to deliver fake
notes worth N700,000 to one Ibrahim when I was arrested.”
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