Two Jailed For Currency Counterfeiting In Lagos

Iliyasu Garba and Joseph Ude have been sentenced to prison by Justice K.O. Ogundare of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday for offences related to counterfeiting and possession of counterfeit currency.

New Telegraph gathered that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Command convicted the two suspects on a five-count accusation of counterfeit cash and counterfeiting, they were arraigned alongside one Benjamin Opara.

However, while Garba and Ude pleaded “guilty”, Opara pleaded “not guilty”.

Adamu Yakubu, an EFCC agent, was subsequently called by the prosecutor, T.J. Banjo, to review the case’s facts.

Yakubu informed the court that After Ifeanacho Ugbor Marcellinus was arrested for having $10,000 worth of counterfeit US dollar bills, the Nigerian Customs Service turned him over to the EFCC.

Upon being questioned, Marcellinus admitted that he was unaware that the notes were fake and that Joseph Ude had provided them to him with the intention of sending them to a person in Brazil.

Yakubu further informed the court that after Ude was taken into custody, he came clean and admitted to buying the fake money from Garba in November 2023 for N1,500 per $1.

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Iliyasu Garba acknowledged engaging in currency counterfeiting during the investigation, but he insisted that Benjamin Opara was the source of the fake money.

Following that, the prosecution attempted to introduce their extrajudicial statements, printouts of the forensic analysis, and the counterfeit money as evidence.

The second and third defendants were found guilty as charged by Justice Ogundare, who also acknowledged them and marked them as exhibits.

The attorneys representing the second defendant, Abdulmalik Ibrahim, and the third defendant, Gideon Igwebuike, implored the court to exercise clemency in administering justice and to provide either a non-custodial punishment or the option of a fine.

Garba and Ude were found guilty by Justice Ogundare and given a six-month prison sentence starting on the day of their arrest, with the possibility of a N100,000 fine.

The hearing for Opara’s bail was adjourned to April 22, 2024, by the court. He was remanded to the Correctional Center by the judge.

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