The Police have arrested two middle-aged men in Enugu State for being in possession and selling counterfeited redesigned N1000 notes.
A statement on Friday by the Command’s spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, said the suspects were arrested on Thursday at about 9:05pm at Iheakpu-Awka in Igbo-Eze South local government area with N180,000 of the counterfeited redesigned N1,000 banknotes found on them.
Ndukwe gave the names of the suspects as Joseph Chinenye, aged 39, and Onyeka Kenneth Ezeja aged 29.
According to the statement, the suspects were arrested by police operatives serving in Igbo-Eze South Division of Enugu State Command following credible information about the duo.
The statement partly read, “On 02/02/2023 at about 9.05pm, our operatives serving in Igbo-Eze South division arrested one Joseph Chinenye aged 39 and Onyeka Kenneth Ezeja aged 29, both male and respectively of Iheakpu-Awka in Igbo-Eze South LGA and Onicha Enugu-Ezike in Igbo-Eze North LGA, in possession of suspected counterfeited one hundred and eighty (180) pieces of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) newly redesigned one thousand naira (N1,000) notes, with face value of one hundred and eighty thousand naira (N180,000.00).
“Preliminary investigation shows, 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.
“In addition, they confessed to attempting to sell the notes to a POS operator, who rejected them, before the operatives arrested them at a Filling Station in Ibagwa-Aka community of Igbo-Eze South LGA, where they used the notes to purchase petrol.”
The Command’s spokesman said that the suspects would be arraigned in court on conclusion of investigation into the case.
