Jethro Ibilke/Benin

Operatives of Edo State Police Command has arrested a man in his mid 30s, Monday Awolowo, for being in possession of fake N1000 notes.

It was gathered that intelligence gathering led the operatives to the house of the suspect, where, the sum of N272,000 of fake N1000 were recovered from him  after a thorough search.

The police Command said investigation into the matter were still ongoing to determine the source of the fake bank notes.

According to the suspect who said he had been a taxi driver since 2010, the desire to survive pushed him into the crime.

He said in 2018, some of his friends advised him to abandon taxi driving for a more profitable venture of using fake N1000 notes for business transaction.

“All these N1000 notes are fake. I always add one or two fake notes of N1000 to nine or eight original notes to make up N10,000 so that the loss will not be too much loss for the victims.

“My thought was that the victims could also be lucky to use the fake notes without being detected,” he said.

The state police spokesman, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, while confirming the report, however said that the suspect is a kidnapper.

He said; “The young man who was caught with fake 1000 naira notes, actually confessed to be a kidnapper. He is among others that carried out a kidnap operation. He is currently with the police, helping the police with investigation that could lead to the arrest of other gang members.”