E. Equatoria: two men jailed for importing counterfeit US dollars

By Ijoo Bosco

December 2, 2013 (TORIT) – Two men have been sentenced to five years’ in prison after they were found guilty of importing and trading in counterfeit US dollars in Eastern Equatoria’ Kapoeta South county.

The men, one South Sudanese and one Ugandan, were caught with $74,400 dollars worth of fake bank notes at a hotel owned by a Kenyan national in Kapoeta South town on 27 November.

Juma Taramatir Makwzi and Joseph lagu Andruga were sentenced by the president of the Eastern Equatoria state’s high court, Abraham Majur Lat. The fake dollar notes were reportedly bought into South Sudan from Uganda and have since been publicly destroyed.

Eastern Equatoria state’s attorney and legal adviser, John Wani Ladu, said that members of South Sudan’s security services had arrested the men after they illegally crossed the border to avoid passing a customs checkpoint at Nimule.

Wani called on all “citizens in the state to be on alert and report any suspicious person roaming across the state counties”, adding that the importation and trade in counterfeit currency “is becoming a serious issues in the country”.

Security personnel who regularly patrol markets across the state have reported that many business owners in Eastern Equatoria are complaining about a recent rise in fake banknotes.

“Almost everybody in the market was talking about it and refused to come forward to report it to us (the authorities), for they feared that they would be arrested until we ourselves discovered it”, Wani said.

(ST)