South Sudan police arrests five criminals over faked notes in Juba

July 8, 2010 (ALEK) – A police patrol force from the regional capital of Juba has on Thursday arrested five criminals for using fake notes to buy commercial materials worth eighty thousand Sudanese pounds at Jebel Kujur market.

Samuel Dhieu Jok, a police officer in Juba in the ministry of Internal Affairs told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that they nabbed five people with eighty thousands faked notes of fifty at Jebel Kujur in the afternoon hours.

“We have this afternoon, while on our regular patrol in the market, found many people complaining of having received a lot of faked notes from most of their items sold out and do not know the people. Almost everybody in the market was talking about it and refused to come forward to report it to us for they feared that they would be arrested until we ourselves discovered it,” he said.

“We found five people of whom two are Sudanese nationals while three were from the neighboring countries of Congo, Uganda and Kenya busy buying expensive items,” he further said, adding that they bought motor bikes each and were still busy buying other expensive materials.

“Because we were monitoring reports of the circulations of faked money, we asked one of colleagues to pretend to have a motor bike he would like to sell at any cost. He went to sit from where bikes are sold and because they were ready to buy anything they got him with the bike and asked him to sell to them his bike. They came and found him sitting on his bike and they discussed until they reached a decision to sell it to them at three thousand. While counting money he realized the money was faked and he immediately started bringing them to us,” he explained.

Meanwhile the Central Equatoria state police have also reportedly arrested two other suspects trying to buy products at one of the pavilions in Konyokonyo market on Wednesday.

Preliminary investigations have found out that the suspects obtained the fake notes from one of the foreigners’ hotels owned by a Kenyan businessman. The suspects found mentioned the names as Kiuriki Stephen and Mwenge Mjongo. Both Stephen and Mjongo, however, denied possessing faked notes.

He said the investigation unit at the police headquarters in Juba would work together with their fellow counterparts in the neighboring countries of Kenya, Uganda and Congo to establish the whereabouts of the plant used to print the fake notes in order to fight the problem, saying the collaboration aims at curbing it.

Key officials from the regional government of Southern Sudan have in the past reported cases suggesting circulation of faked notes in all currencies including dollars and shillings from the neighboring countries of Uganda and Kenya which have continued to be used in most southern markets.

The region has also witnessed sale of expired items in printed new containers and sold as new commodities. But police authorities have in collaboration with local populations embarked on monitory measures since last year. This came into force following complaints and discovery of the sale of expired items in May by police acting on information given by local consumers.

(ST)