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The officers and men of Seme Border Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has made a remarkable seizure of $6million fake currency among other notable items.
The fake $6m (Six Million) USD is equivalent of N2.763 Billion at exchange rate of N460.52
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday , the Customs Area Controller of the Command, Compt Dera Nnadi said two male suspects were arrested conveying the fake currency from Nigeria to the Republic of Benin at Gbaji checkpoint along the Seme corridor on the 31 of January, 2023 and are currently in the command custody pending prosecution.
Compt Nnadi hinted that the seizure is a disturbing and dangerous trend based on the fact that general elections are around the corner.Adding that the smugglers promised to bribe the officers with $150,000 original currency in order to allow passage of the fake currency.
He disclosed that on the 31 of January, 2023 at a about 0530 hours, officers on patrol along Gbetrome base intercepted Six (6) Maltese International Passports with the same picture of a lady but bearing different names.
Two (2) Senegalese International Passports, Three (3) Togolese International Passports. Four (4) Republic of Benin International Passports. One (1) Republic of Niger International Passport and Ten (10) International Driving License of these various countries from two male suspects who are also in custody pending further investigation.
Officers and men of the command also arrested and seized 1,300 by 30 liters jerry can of PMS along the creeks and it’s equivalent 39,000 liters roughly over one fuel tanker of PMS with duty paid value of N9, 366.45million only.
Other items seized include 55 sacks containing 550 pieces of donkey skin with Duty Paid Value of N11.371.511. “The significance of the seizures is that it shows how much our endanger species are being eroded by unpatriotic elements.” Comptroller Dera said.
According to the Command Area Controller, officers a the Gbaji checkpoint intercepted a vehicle carrying two passengers and upon searching them, they discovered fake $6m US dollar bills in fake currency.
“It would only take the eagle eye of a trained officer to detect that they are fake. Some of these currencies bear the same serial number, and besides that, it will be very difficult for you to identify them as fake. Two people were arrested in respect of this illicit act.
“Similar to this, we also arrested just few hours after this, two other passengers in a different vehicle and upon searching them, we discovered some international passports and these passports are from Malta Republic.
“All the six passports we got bears the same photograph of the same person, but with different names.
“The passport belongs to the republic of Malta, but bears the photograph of someone who appears to be an European and bearing different names for all the six passports.
“The same lady also has six international driver’s licenses bearing her photograph with six different names. The significance of this shows that we are dealing with a very serious syndicate that moves across the borders” Dera quipped.
