The Enugu State Police Command has arrested two male suspects for possessing, transacting and selling counterfeit redesigned N1,000 notes within a council area of the state. The suspects were found with 180 counterfeit Central Bank of Nigeria newly‑redesigned N1,000 notes, amounting to a face value of N180,000 (one hundred and eighty thousand naira). This information was released in a statement to the News Agency of Nigeria by the Command’s spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, on Friday in Enugu.
According to Ndukwe, the operation was carried out after police officers from the Igbo‑Eze South Division acted on credible information on 2 February at about 9:05 p.m. The officers arrested Joseph Chinenye, 39, of Iheakpu‑Awka in the Igbo‑Eze South Local Government Area, and Onyeka Ezeja, 29, of Onicha village in Enugu‑Ezike, Igbo‑Eze North LGA. Preliminary investigation revealed that the notes, which were in three separate batches, bore the same serial numbers: A/34:282656, A/46:578759 and 8/93:852942.
The suspects claimed they obtained the counterfeit notes from an unidentified woman in Benin City, Edo State, and confessed that they had tried to sell the notes to a point‑of‑sale operator, who rejected them. They were later apprehended by police at a filling station in the Ibagwa‑Aka community of Igbo‑Eze South LGA, where they attempted to use the counterfeit notes to purchase petrol.
Ndukwe said the duo will be arraigned in court after the State Criminal Investigation Department, Enugu, completes its investigation. He also noted that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ahmed Ammani, reaffirmed the police’s commitment to apprehend criminal elements engaged in economic sabotage. The commissioner urged the public to support the police in combating crime and asked the people of Enugu State to remain vigilant about how they obtain and handle the new naira notes.
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