Police arrest fake currency syndicate in Nasarawa

The Nasarawa State Police Command said it arrested a seven-member gang in Lafia with N7.8 million and $110,000 in counterfeit money.

Mr Bola Longe, the state police commissioner, paraded the suspects to police command headquarters in Lafia on Friday, alongside 61 others for various criminal offences.

Longe said two of the suspects were arrested on June 4, as they attempted to deposit money into an account using a point of sale (PoS) located around Lafia Agricultural College.

According to the police commissioner, a student from Nasarawa State University Keffi and another went to deposit N50,000 at the point of sale when the officer discovered that some of the tickets were counterfeit.

He said the suspect insisted she accept the money, which resulted in an altercation and she had to seek police intervention.

“Upon receipt of the information, the police personnel attached to the zone command, Lafia immediately went to the scene and had the suspect arrested,” he declared.

Longe said further investigation led to the arrest of five other suspects and N7.8 million of counterfeit money in 1,000 denominations, and $ 110,000 of counterfeit $100 bills were recovered. as evidence.

He said the recovered counterfeit coins were transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the investigation continued into the matter.

In addition, the commissioner said the command arrested a 39-year-old man posing as the acting vice-chancellor and registrar of the Federal University of Lafia, on social media for defrauding admission seekers and unsuspecting entrepreneurs.

Longe said the suspects were arrested in Bukan-Sidi Lafia, during an undercover operation on June 24.

He said the preliminary investigation found that the suspects who claimed to be professors at Benue State University, Makurdi, on sabbatical, were high school dropouts with no means of subsistence.

The police commissioner said other criminal suspects arrested in the past two months included 38 for worship, eight for armed robbery, five for kidnapping and two for vandalism on the railroad tracks.

He said all suspects would be prosecuted as soon as the investigations were completed.

Longe appealed to the public for continued collaboration with the police through useful information to rid the state of criminal elements. (NAA)