A 37-year-old man, Chukwuebuka Igwebuike, has been apprehended by men of the Enugu State Police Command for possessing and transacting counterfeit naira notes within the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, confirmed the development on Friday.
According to the image maker, the suspect was nabbed at Afor Market, Garki Awkunanaw, Enugu following a tip-off on Dec. 19 at about 6:00pm.
“Recovered from him is suspected counterfeit N1000 Nigerian Naira notes, totalling N362,000.
“Preliminary investigation proves that the suspect confessed to the crime, stating that he used the fake one thousand Naira notes to buy items of small prices and get change for genuine smaller denominations.
“He shall be arraigned in court and prosecuted accordingly once ongoing investigations are concluded,” he said.
The command spokesperson said the Commissioner of Police, Mr Kanayo Uzuegbu, had urged citizens and the public to be vigilant and wary of whom they received and exchanged all the denominations of mint Nigerian Naira with, especially this yuletide.
“Hence, he encourages the citizenry to quickly report anyone in possession of, or transacting in counterfeit Nigerian Naira notes, to the nearest police station for necessary policing actions,” he said.
In a separate development, Maya community in Lanlate town in Ibarapa East Local Government Area in the Ibarapa geo-political zone of Oyo State has been thrown into total darkness.
It was gathered that the community was thrown into total darkness due to a fire incident that destroyed the electric transformer serving the whole community.
NIGERIACRIME gathered on Friday that goods and property worth millions of naira were destroyed in the fire that razed some shops and stalls at Maya market in Lanlate town.
Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, representing Ibarapa East Constituency, confirmed the incident on Friday.
He said he had visited the community to assess the level of damage.
He said that the incident has paralysed the socio-economic activities of the people of the community.
Ogundoyin said, “I was at Maya Market, Lanlate, in Ibarapa East Local Government to inspect a section of the market gutted by fire.
“Shops and stalls, including goods, were completely burnt in the inferno while the electric transformer serving the entire community was also destroyed, thereby throwing the whole Maya community into total darkness.
“This has no doubt paralysed the socioeconomic activities of my people in Maya.
“While appreciating God that no one died in the fire incident, I sympathised with the traders on the loss of their goods and properties, and I assured them that the incident would be brought to the attention of the Governor.
“I equally promised that something urgent would be done on the transformer in order to restore power back to Maya Community”.