Penultimate Thursday was day of reckoning for four-man syndicate that deals in counterfeit dollar and naira. They were caught when some of them tried to rip-off others.
One of them that was given the fake currency to change for genuine one in Ondo State came back and told the others that the money was seized and it was by sheer luck that he escaped the wrath of the people when they found out that the naira notes with him were all fake.
The reason for going to change the fake currency at Ondo and not Lagos is that Lagosians are wiser and smarter to detect the real form fake currencies. According to them, Ondo people are still in the dark in detecting the fake notes.
Chinedu Okoye, 27, from Enugu State, said he scouts for passengers with a transport company in Lagos and was introduced to the illegal business by one Emma.
His curiosity arose when he saw Emma with fake N1000 notes and on enquiry was told how he got it and if he is interested, he would introduce him to his source, a certain Philip Nnachi. According to Chinedu after the peak Christmas season, there was lull in transport business, so he decided to venture into counterfeit currency trading and he got in touch with Emma who then linked him up with Philip.
He bought a wrap of fake N1000 notes, that is N100,000 for genuine N20,000 and would have made up to N80,000 if he had succeeded in changing all.
Philip 47, from Ebonyi State, who combines second hand clothes business with counterfeit currency said that one Alaba Adetona introduced him to the business.
Alaba, a computer graphic artist said it was one Wasiu, a driver, now at large that introduced him to the business. According to him, he does not know how or where Wasiu procures the fake naira notes. He said he knew Wasiu when he (Wasiu) was arrested for changing fake naira for genuine ones and he helped to secure his bail and was rewarded with an introduction into the illegal business, thus establishing a thriving business relationship.
Why did he take to the same business that landed the man he bailed in trouble? Alaba gave a simple answer: “I knew quite well that the business was illegal but didn’t have an option because of the prevailing harsh economic realities in the country.”
It was Alaba that introduced Nnachi to the business and so was supplying the fake currency to him. Nnachi said he has known Alaba who has been his supplier of fake money for sometimes, and has done his bit so well to scout for buyers.
The bubble bust when the money got to Ajola Segun, a soap factory worker. Ajola decided to augment his meagre salary with what he would make by changing the fake currency notes for genuine ones.
Chinedu recruited him for and both went to Ondo State for the fake-for-genuine naira deal. Ajola had one wrap of fake N1000 notes, which is N100,000 to change for genuine ones.
In the crime world, double crossing and back stabbing are part of the game. Ajola came back and told Chinedu that that he was almost lynched when people discovered that the money he bought an item with was fake and that the rest of the money was seized and because the game was up and he would be going back to Lagos.
Chinedu said that though he suspected that Ajola was hiding something up his sleeves, there was nothing he could do than to see it as it is - a business that went awry and they returned to Lagos.
Trouble started for all of them when few days after Ajola had returned from Ondo, he bought some item from a shop close to his office. At the close of the day’s business, the owner of the shop found out the fake N1000 notes and reported at Festac police station. After investigations by the Divisional Police Officer, Usman Ndanbabo, Ajola was fished out and he confessed to have committed the offence and led the police to arrest Chinedu who was still ruminating over the loss of the little money he had saved over a long period of hustling.
Chinedu spilled the beans and told the police the source of the fake naira, which led to the arrest of Nnachi who also led the police to arrest Alaba. Alaba named Wasiu, a driver who is now at large, as his source of the fake naira.
This was business racket that the next person didn’t allow the other to know the way to get to main source of the fake money. Chinedu didn’t know Alaba, Nnachi didn’t know Wasiu and Ajola didn’t know Nnachi or Alaba.
On the fake $82,300 found in Nnachi’s house, he said the dollars were given to him to keep by one Baba Ibeji and they have been with him for over two years. According to him since then he has not seen Baba Ibeji to return the fake dollars.
Fake naira notes recovered from them include, N440,000 one thousand denominations, N190,000 in five hundred naira denominations and N140,000 in two hundred denominations.
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