Monrovia – Conflicting accounts are reported to be emerging from the exact amount of LD$200,000 counterfeit bank notes caught with a Nigerian national in a border town between Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone.
Report by Kennedy L. Yangian – [email protected]
“Wherefore and in view of the foregoing coupled with the voluntary admission of defendant Onyeka Nnameni and accomplices as Amandi and others to be identified as well as the physical evidence (counterfeit 200,000 Liberian dollars notes), the investigation resolved to charge the defendant with the commission of the crimes of forgery, counterfeiting, facilitation of counterfeiting, economic sabotage and money laundering in violation of Section 15.70 of the penal law pending court trial”- Police charge sheet
Police charge sheet in the possession of FrontPageAfrica, quoting the Joint security at the Bo- Waterside port of entry, indicates that on July 27, 2016 at about 9:30 hrs while the security officers assigned at the entry point were conducting their regular inspection, a Nigerian national identified as Onyeka Nnameni traveling from Sierra -Leone to Monrovia was arrested with a single television in a red and white television carton.
The joint security stated that during inspection of the Nigerian‘s carton, it was realized that he allegedly criminally concealed within the television counterfeit bank notes in a LD$100 denomination, amounting to LD$200,000 with the assorted series numbers as follows: (EE7250062, EE7101800, E24010112 and EE7413676).
Predicated upon the discovery, the joint security statement indicated further that Onyeka was transferred to the Headquarters of the Liberia National Police where further investigation was done and the defendant reportedly admitted to the commission of the crime.
The police charge sheet stated that after its investigation, it was established that the defendant purposely traveled to Freetown, Sierra Leone to collect the counterfeit in the amount of LD$200,000.
Also, the police alluded that the investigation established that the defendant knowingly and purposely colluded and conspired with co-suspects and other suspects to be identified with the intent to defraud the Government and People of Liberia.
According to the police charge sheet, it states that it was established that the money was a counterfeit when a forensic analysis was conducted by using the Late 825 high velocity light (HV Light) test which indicated that all of the LD$ 200,000.00 lack security features like micro-printing, color-shifting ink and others.
“Wherefore and in view of the foregoing coupled with the voluntary admission of defendant Onyeka Nnameni and accomplices as Amandi and others to be identified as well as the physical evidence (counterfeit 200,000 Liberian dollars notes), the investigation resolved to charge the defendant with the commission of the crimes of forgery, counterfeiting, facilitation of counterfeiting, economic sabotage and money laundering in violation of Section 15.70 of the penal law pending court trial,” stated the police charge sheet.
On Wednesday defendant Nnameni was taken to the Monrovia City Court at the Temple of Justice where he was later sent to jail along with the counterfeit Liberian bank notes in question but a after repeated counting of the fake Liberian bank notes by the court officers, it was discovered that the actual amount of the counterfeit rose from LD$ 200,000,00 to LD$257,000
The discovery of the excess counterfeit of LD$ 57,000 drew panic among those present in the court room with some of them indicating that the counterfeit Liberian bank notes brought in the country by the Nigerian might have been more than the one reported by the security, with some of them warning the public against the LD$100 denomination usage on the market.