Troops of 33 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army, Bauchi have arrested a gang of fake currency syndicate.

A statement issued on Wednesday by Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Major Joseph Adekunle Afolasade, indicated that “the gallant troops dressed in a covert plain clothes, busted in to the ever busy Wunti market on 31 March, 2017 where one Mallam Idris Hassan, 47, was arrested. As at the time of his arrest, he was in possession of N21,000 of different denomination of fake currency notes.”

The suspect claimed that, the fake currency notes was given to him by one Mallam Auwal Wanzam who resides in Bauchi City.

Other suspects arrested across the states according to the statement, are Mallam Sani Ibrahim (Bauchi City), Abdulahi Suleiman, Zubairu Ya’u and Isyaku Hardo who were arrested at Karfin Madaki, Ganjua Local Government Area of Bauchi State respectively.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that, they also have syndicate group in Kano State where one Malam Abubakar Musa was arrested in Kano city.

“A total sum of N26,000 Nigerian fake currencies was also recovered from them. This brings the total amount of recovered Nigerian fake currency notes from the suspected criminals to N47,000 fake Nigerian currencies.”

The Army also said the suspected gang leader and the printer of the fake currency, Malam Suleiman Abubakar of Karfin Madaki, Ganjua Local Government Area of Bauchi State is still at large.

The suspects and the recovered fake currency notes have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Zonal Office in Gombe State for further investigation.

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