NAIRA SCARCITY: Ekiti Amotekun Arrests Man With Fake N250,000 New Notes
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The Ekiti State Amotekun Corps have arrested a man named Celestine with counterfeited new N1,000 notes worth approximately N250,000.
Celestine, who claimed to be an Anambra State indigene, residing and transacting business in Lagos, claimed he was on his way from Lagos to Isanlu in Kogi State to buy kolanut and bitter kola when he was apprehended with the counterfeit new naira notes.
The suspect, who spoke at the Amotekun State Headquarters in Ado Ekiti, where he was paraded with the money, described himself as a victim of circumstances, saying, “I collected the fake new naira notes from a customer in Lagos State without knowing 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.
Brig. Gen. Joe Komolafe (retd), Amotekun State Commander, said the suspect was apprehended by men of the corps at Omuo Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti State after he 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 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 commander of Amotekun, on the other hand, warned the public to “beware of the activities of unscrupulous persons who may want to use the opportunity of the country’s scarcity of cash to dupe members of the public with fake new naira notes.”
