A man named Celestine was detained by officers of the Ekiti State Amotekun Corps with counterfeit fresh N1,000 notes totaling roughly N250,000.
Celestine, who identified himself as a businessman from Anambra State living in Lagos, claimed he was stopped while traveling from Lagos to Isanlu in Kogi State to purchase bitter kola and kola nuts.
The suspect claimed to be a victim of circumstances while speaking to reporters at the Amotekun State headquarters in Ado Ekiti. He said, “I collected the fake new naira notes from a customer in Lagos State without realizing they were not genuine.
”Following my arrest, I had tried to contact him for my release, I am still expecting to hear from him,” the suspect said.
Amotekun State Commander, Brig. Gen. Joe Komolafe (retd), said the suspect was apprehended at Omuo Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government area of Ekiti State by the men of the corps after he had spent some quantities of the counterfeit new N1,000 notes in a local market in the area.
Komolafe said, “Amotekun operatives were alerted by some Point of Sale operators on the discovery of the fake new naira notes in the area. On receipt of the information, our men swung into action and arrested the suspect with large quantities of the fake naira notes.
“Our men were reliably informed that the suspect came into the community with about N250,000 fake new N1,000 notes. He is currently undergoing interrogations at our office here. He will be handed over to the police for further probe and prosecution on completion of our investigation on the matter,” Komolafe said.
The Amotekun commander, however, cautioned members of the public to “beware of the activities of unscrupulous persons who may want to use the opportunity of the scarcity of cash in the country to dupe members of the public with fake new naira notes.”
