{A lab tech at Karangazi health centre in Nyagatare District has been arrested in connection with circulating forged currency notes.}
Jean Claude Nsengiyumva was apprehended on June 23 after a Mobile Money dealer in Karangazi notified Police that the former had duped him with fake currency notes valued at Rwf30, 000.
According to the Mobile Money dealer, Nsengiyumva, in the late evening of Thursday, came to his kiosk to deposit money on his Mobile Money account.
“It was almost dark and I couldn’t notice if the notes were real or fake, but I had my suspicions when I touched them, which I also told him, but he assured me it wasn’t fake and I didn’t mind much since I knew him and where he stays,” the mobile money dealer narrated.
“But after he left, I followed my instincts and walked to where there was light only to realize that all the six notes in Rwf5000 denominations he gave me were actually fake as I thought, and I immediately called police,” he added.
Inspector of Police (IP) Emmanuel Kayigi, Police spokesperson for the Eastern Province, said that police officers, after getting more information from the victim, they headed straight to Nsengiyumva’s house.
“When Police officers reached at Nsengiyumva’s house, they searched it and recovered other fake notes amounting to Rwf20, 000, all in the denominations of Rwf5, 000, which was hidden under the mattress,” IP Kayigi added.
Nsengiyumva, however, argued that he was not aware that the money was forged, claiming that it was given to him by “someone in Kigali,” who had his debt.
He could, however, not explain why he didn’t verify if the money was fake to report to police, especially that he had had a clue that he could be having and circulating fake money after the victim told him and instead assured him that he knew how a fake Rwandan currency note looks like.
IP Kayigi, however, clarified that the Rwandan penal code, especially in its articles 603 to 605, is clear either on counterfeiters or distributers.
Any person, under article 604, who counterfeits, uses or circulates, by any means, items misrepresented as money or negotiable instruments shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of two to five years and a fine of two to ten times the value of the counterfeit money.
IP Kayigi said that investigations will continue to find out the origin of the fake monies and arrest all those connected to this act, to face justice.
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