Police officers from the Igbo-Eze South Division of the Enugu State Command found two suspects with fake, redesigned naira notes and took them into custody.
The PPRO, Daniel Ndukwe, said that Joseph Chinenye, 39, and Onyeka Kenneth Ezeja, 29, both males from Iheakpu-Awka in Igbo-Eze South LGA, and Onicha Enugu-Ezike in Igbo-Eze North LGA, were arrested with 180 pieces of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) newly redesigned one thousand nairas (N1,000) notes, with faces (N180,000.00).
He said Preliminary investigation shows, among other things, that the notes are in three different batches with the same serial numbers: A/34:282656, A/46:578759, and 8/93:852942. The suspects said they got the fake Naira notes from a woman in Benin, Edo State, who they didn’t know.
The commissioner said that the suspects admitted that they tried to sell the notes to a POS operator, but the operator refused to take them. The suspects were then caught at a filling station in the Ibagwa-Aka community of Igbo-Eze LGA, where they used the notes to buy gas.
He stated that the suspects will be charged in court once the State CID Enugu has completed its investigation and put all of the pieces together.
The commissioner promised that the police would find and bring to justice any criminals who were determined to hurt the economy in this way. He asks everyone, then, to help the police in their search and to be careful about where and how they get Naira notes, especially the new ones, and how they spend them.
In a related event, two people suspected of armed robbery were caught in their hideout at New Artisan Enugu.
Chukwuneku Monday, also known as “Boss,” is 39 years old, and Agu Emmanuel, also known as “Fuckoyor,” is 22 years old.
He said that the arrest was made possible by the work of police operators and detectives of the Enugu State Command in the Awkunanaw Police Division and the Anti-Robbery Section of the State CID Enugu. This led to the recovery of two (2) locally-made pistols, including one (1) Chief Revolver pistol with eight (8) live rounds of 9. mm ammunition.
He said that the suspects, who admitted to armed robbery and other horrible crimes in different parts of the Enugu metropolis and its surroundings, will be taken to court once the State CID Enugu has finished investigating the case.
While praising the work of the police officers involved in the operational breakthrough, the Commissioner asked the people of the state to stay law-abiding and keep giving the Command the reliable information and/or intelligence she needs to get rid of criminals who don’t want to change and to make sure that the 2023 general elections in the state are safe, peaceful, credible, and acceptable.