Selling newly minted naira notes is an offence that attracts six months imprisonment and seven suspects are now in police net for trading and hawking newly minted naira notes in Onitsha, Anambra state.
According to the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Garba Umar, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has raised alarm over the illegal activity going on for a while now unchecked and calls for swift action to arrest the culprits who even brazenly display them in public as a product.
Garba while addressing the press over the matter cites sections 20 and 21 of the CBN Act that makes it an offence for anyone to sell or hawk naira or coin issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, cautions citizens to desist from abusing the naira and says those arrested will be prosecuted.
At the Anambra State Police Headquarters in Amawbia, seven suspects have been paraded by the police for illegal trading and hawking of newly minted notes in Onitsha. The police upon arresting the suspects on December 21st also recovered over four million naira newly minted notes. Mr. Garba stated that seven people were with two at large, who are neck-deep in the activity and says they will be prosecuted. One of the suspects speaking on his involvement in the nefarious activity says he does not know the source of the newly minted notes as he buys from a dealer.
Festive periods always come with activities with people engaging in free spraying of money which may warrant one looking for newly minted money, the Commissioner of Police says the CBN is serious with ending the illegality of people trading on naira and anybody found engaging in the business will be prosecuted, adding that aggressive investigation is going on to find out who is the source of the distribution of the newly minted money either from the bank or wherever.
Source: News agencies
