THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Ogun State Command 1 said it has apprehended a man with 2.5 million fake Nigerian currency notes on Tuesday during patrol by the anti-smuggling unit of the service.
In a statement by NCS Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Maiwada, he said the NCS Ogun State Command 1 arrested one Samson Odejiba who was in possession of the fake notes at Ihunbo checking point along Sango-Idiroko road.
According to Maiwada, he said the suspect assented to the allegation and confessed that he was contracted by one Alfa who promised to remunerate him with N5,000 if he delivers them to Owode-Yewa.
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The notes are allegedly being targeted at people who have the intention of changing their cash to new notes.
Maiwada added that the anti-smuggling team also intercepted 40 drums of ethanol stamped by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for industrial use.
He noted that some people are in the habit of distributing the product to unsuspecting members of the public, who ignorantly mix it with water and sell as an alcoholic beverage.
He said the ethanols are mostly dispersed as alcoholic beverage in Idiroko and neighbouring towns of the state.
He added that the ethanol are imported from the Republic of Benin for industrial use but the suspects sell it to final consumers without going through industrial processing.
Maiwada said the consumption of the product taken as alcoholic beverage is harmful to the health of those who drink it.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94