The suspected fake money dealer are paraded at Lira CPS on Friday. Photo BY HUDSON APUNYO
UPDF officers from the 5th Division and the police on Friday paraded three suspects they claimed were arrested with counterfeit money and apparatus used in making the fake notes.
While briefing the press at Lira Central Police Station on Friday, 5 Division intelligence officer Mike Mpanga said they gathered intelligence report about a group of people who had been sabotaging the economy and arrested the suspects, including a UPDF Lieutenant.
Maj. Mpanga said they recovered Shs19 million in counterfeit currency from the suspects, who are from different parts of the country. He said they also recovered some chemicals and what the suspects called negatives, black pieces of paper that is processed into the counterfeit currency which can make up to more than Shs40 million in counterfeit money
“We recovered a bottle of mineral water filled with chemical and some white powder purchased from Kenya,” Maj. Mpanga said. He said the white powder was purchased from a company called Micro Organic Vabricators in Nairobi.
Maj. Mpanga said the arrest was made simple when security confiscated mobile phones of the suspects and their accomplices kept on calling, only to be picked up like grasshoppers.
The victims of the counterfeit money are the peasants who go to sell their produce and animals in the markets. Maj. Mpanga said the fake notes do circulate from the remote areas where people do not critically study its features.
RDC Susan Akany said the economy has not been so stable because of such economic saboteurs. “We have been wondering where the problem is coming from,” she said and urged the security to continue with the investigation because some big fish could be involved.
By Hudson Apunyo, Daily Monitor
