Man Arrested With Fake N40,000, Get 1 year Jail-Term
Justice Sule Hassan, convicted and sentenced the father of two to the jail term, after he pleaded guilty to one count charge of unlawful possession of fake currency, leveled against him by the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID), Panti-Yaba, Lagos.
The convict, was arrested on March 15, 2018, at an online-betting shop, UBC 365 Bet, situated at Ojuelegba, by the police with the said fake currency, which were 39 pieces of N1,000 notes, and two pieces of N500 notes.
He was brought before the court Monday, with a charge which read: “That you Abdullahi Seun ‘M’ on the 15‘h day of March 2018 at about 16:30hrs, at UBC 365 Bet Office, Funsho Williams Avenue Ojuelegba, Lagos State, within the Jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, had in your possession counterfeit Naira notes of the following denominations: 39 (thirty nine) N1,000 (one thousand naira) notes and 2 (two) N500 (five hundred naira) notes and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 5 (1) (b) of the Counterfeit Currency (Special Provisions) Act Cap C35, LFN 2004”.
Upon his guilty plea, the prosecutor, Mr. J. I. Eboseremen, tendered several exhibits, which includes that fake currency, the convict’s confessional statement, complaint’s statement, and letters exchanged between the Police and Nigerian Security, Mints Printing Company (NSMPC), which were admitted by the court.
He therefore urged the court to sentence him as prescribed by the law.
Before his sentence, the convict told the court that the monies were given to him by someone that owned him, and he was not aware that the monies were fake, not until when he was about spending part of it, when the trader raise the alarm that he was with fake currency.
He also told the court that he was beating by the area boys who later handed him to the police. He pleaded with the court to have mercy on him and promised not involved in the act again.
Following his plea for mercy, the presiding judge, Justice Hassan, said: “in view of the plea of the convict, coupled with the exhibits tendered, and that the convict did not waste the precious time of the court, he is hereby sentence to one year imprisonment, starting from March 15, 2018, when he was arrested and detained”.
The judge also ordered that the fake currency recovered from the convict be destroyed in the presence of the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar (DCR), after 90 days of the judgment, if there is no appeal against the judgment.
