₦airaland Forum

Etim Ekpimah

The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has arrested two men who allegedly specialised in printing fake vouchers, popularly called recharge cards .

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Murtala Mani, paraded the men in Uyo on Wednesday.

Represented by his aide and a former Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Onyeka Orji, Mani stated that the syndicate was smashed on March 7, through intelligence.

He gave the names of the suspects as Etini Solomon, 21, from Abak Local Government Area; and Itohowo Joseph, 22, from Nsit Ubium LGA.

He said, “On March 7, 2016, at 9am, our detectives apprehended Solomon while selling fake recharge cards to members of the public.

“On interrogation, the suspects confessed to the crime; a search was conducted and some recharge cards were recovered in his possession.”

The commissioner listed the recharge cards recovered from him to include N 71,600 MTN; N105,800 Airtel; N39,900 Etisalat; and N36,300 Glo, totalling N253,300.

The CP said, “Solomon confessed to the police that Joseph was the person that gave him fake codes to enable him to print the recharge cards .

“The suspect further stated that one Itohowo Joseph supplied him with some codes.”

Solomon, however, told PUNCH Metro that he bought the recharge cards from Joseph and that he did not know that the cards where fake.

He said, “I bought the cards from this man (Joseph), I did not know the cards were fake. It was on March 5, that I gave him N25,000.”

The CP also said the command arrested two suspected robbers, while some cash were recovered from them.

He said the suspects, who used a tricycle to rob innocent victims in Akwa Ibom, were Benson Udo, 54; and Enefiok Essien, 38.
He said apart from robbing their female victims, they also raped them.

The police commissioner advised members of the public to beware of the type of vehicles they boardedto avoid falling victim to criminals.

He added that the suspects would soon be charged to court.