Two persons have been arrested for possessing 180 pieces of the newly redesigned 1000 notes suspected to be counterfeit, the Enugu State Police Command have said.
The command in a statement signed by DSP Daniel Ndukwe, the Police Public Relations Officer, gave the names of the suspects as Joseph Chinenye, aged 39 and Onyeka Kenneth Ezeja aged 29.
The statement reads:
“Acting on credible information information, Police Operatives serving in Igbo-Eze South Division of Enugu State Command, on 02/02/2023 at about 9.05pm, 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 LGA, where they used the notes to purchase petrol.
“The duo will be arraigned in court upon consolidation and conclusion of investigation into the case by the State CID Enugu.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani, fdc, has reassured the commitment of the Police to fish out and bring to book, criminal elements hellbent on perpetrating such acts of economic sabotage. He therefore, urges all and sundry to support the Police in this quest, while being vigilant and wary of who or how they obtain and carry out transactions with Naira notes, especially the new ones.”
