A retired colonel and his cohorts have been apprehended by the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos, in connection with an alleged counterfeit currency operation.
As reported by the News Agency of Nigeria, the police paraded the suspects, including a couple aged 50 and 46, at the command’s headquarters on Friday in Lagos.
Tunni Ayuba, the Zonal Public Relations Officer, representing the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Olatoye Durosinmi, disclosed that the arrest stemmed from an intelligence operation that targeted a printer suspected of producing fake currencies.
The police raided the printer’s hideout on Lagos Island on February 3, seizing a printing machine allegedly used for counterfeiting and recovering a cache of 300 million CFA and N9 million in suspected counterfeit currency.
Ayuba revealed that the printer confessed to operating in the counterfeit currency trade for over three years and implicated the arrested couple as his accomplices.
Further investigation led to the arrest of the former soldier, who was allegedly found in possession of additional suspected counterfeit currencies during a search of his residence.
Efforts are underway to apprehend other members of the syndicate who are currently at large.
