BUT for the timely intervention of the operatives from Saki unit of Operation Burst, the trio of Kazeem Alani, Jimoh Wasiu and Mutiu Jelili would have been dead by now as they were almost lynched by an irate mob when they were detected during an attempt to change $111,300 suspected to be fake dollars for genuine Nigerian currency. Also with the dollars was a sum of N4,100 which was also said to be fake naira notes. Crime Reports gathered that the three suspects approached the bureau de change of one Alhaji Fatai Adetoro to change the dollars in Saki recently but when a fake currency detection pen was used to mark all the dollar notes, they were found to be counterfeit. Before taking the entire fake dollars, the suspects were said to have gone to the bureau de change the previous day with a genuine $100 dollar note so as not arouse suspicion. The attempt to defraud the operator reportedly angered passersby and they were said to have descended on the trio, which prompted Alhaji Adetoro to put a distress call to Operation Bursts office. The second-in-command of the security outfit, CSP Elisha Bawa had told Crime Reports during a press briefing that preliminary investigations revealed that Alani and Jimoh were street urchins based in Ogbooro and had no specific means of livelihood. Bawa stated further that they knew the dollars were fake ones but decided to try their luck which failed. He said that the third suspect, Shittu, was regarded as an accomplice because he would have benefitted from the money if the first two suspects had succeeded in exchanging the money However, Alani (35) denied knowing that dollars were fake ones, saying that they were brought to him by one Sir Kay, whom he knew in Lagos State. The Igboho-born suspect who lived in Ogbooro via Saki told Crime Reports: “I am into charcoal business. I have a friend called Sir Kay. He used to bring rice from Cotonou, in Republic of Benin, to Alaba Rago in Lagos State where I used to take my bags of charcoal for sale. We got close because we both speak Oyo dialect. “After some time, we lost contact but one day, I received a call from him and he told me he had some problems, saying that Customs seized his goods. I asked him to come to charcoal farm at Ogbooro to work so that he could use whatever he got to start his business again. “On the day he came, he arrived at 6p.m. He told me he was fortunate to have come across a polythene bag containing dollars at Ewekoro town, Ogun State. When he opened for me to see, I saw it was 12 bundles of dollar notes. I told him that he should allow me to involve Wasiu, who is one of my friends because I was not used to the currency. “Wasiu suggested that we go to bureau de change in Saki to convert the money to naira. We were supposed to go to Saki the following day with Sir Kay but he told us that he received a call that his pregnant wife fell from a bike and was in a hospital at Cotonou, so he went and left the money with us. “We left for Saki to make findings on where to take the money for conversion. We saw an okada rider and asked him to take us to a bureau de change. He took us to one Alhaji and we explained to the operator that we noticed that the serial numbers of most of the dollar notes were similar. We showed him one of them that we took with us and he said it was ok. He asked us to come with the bundles the following morning. “We went back and the money was brought out. Suddenly we heard Alhaji and boys exclaim that we brought fake dollars. We were surprised at this and before we knew what was happening, they started beating us and almost killed us before Operation Burst operatives came and rescued us. I believe I fell into trouble because of greed and discontentment.” The second suspect, Jimoh,, an indigene of Ogbooro and also into charcoal business said “Sir Kay and Alani came to buy charcoal from me. He told me that Sir Kay found some dollars. I replied that we should take one of the dollar notes to Saki to confirm its genuineness. Sir Kay got to Saki with us but did not follow us to the bureau de change as he said he was returning to Cotonou to take care of his wife. “We got the okada man involved because he was the one who introduced us to the operator. When we were asked to return with the whole money the following day, we collected his mobile number so that he could take us there again. When we got there the following day and he wanted to leave, we asked him to wait and see everything to the end because we thought of giving him something out of it if we succeeded in converting the dollars to naira.” The third suspect, who conveyed Alani and Wasiu to where they wanted to change the fake dollars, denied knowing the first two suspects, saying that he only took them to the bureau de change while plying his business as a commercial okada rider. However, Bawa said that the suspects would be transferred to the appropriate security agency for further investigations.
Source:
www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/21602

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