Two suspects, Joseph Chinenye, 39, and Onyeka Kenneth Ezeja, 29, both male, have been arrested by the Enugu State Police Command for allegedly counterfeiting and selling new naira notes recently designed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Our correspondent gathered that the duo hail from Iheakpu-Awka in Igbo-Eze South LGA and Onicha Enugu-Ezike in Igbo-Eze North LGA of the state respectively.
They were arrested by police operatives serving in Igbo-Eze South Division of Enugu State Command on 02/02/2023 at about 9.05 pm in possession of suspected counterfeited one hundred and eighty (180) pieces of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s newly redesigned one thousand naira (N1,000) notes, with a face value of one hundred and eighty thousand naira (N180,000.00), the state police command stated on Friday.
According to the state police command’s PPRO, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, “Preliminary investigations show, among other things, that the notes, which are in three separate batches, bear the same serial numbers of A/34:282656, A/46:578759 and 8/93:852942, while the suspects claimed to have secured the counterfeited naira notes from an unidentified woman in Benin, Edo State.”
It was gathered that the suspects were arrested at a filling station in the Ibagwa-Aka community of Igbo-Eze South LGA where they used the notes to purchase petrol.
Ndukwe added, “The duo will be arraigned in court upon conclusion of investigations into the case by the State CID Enugu.”
Meanwhile, the state commissioner of police, CP Ahmed Ammani, has reassured the commitment of the police to fish out and bring ‘to book criminal elements perpetrating such acts of economic sabotage’.
He urged residents of the state to support the police by providing them with credible intelligence reports. He further assured them of confidentiality.
