Ifeanyi Osuohae, an unlucky bread seller, has been arrested by the police for reportedly trying to spending counterfeit currency notes.
The bread seller an Imo State indigene had boarded a cab from Akerele, Agege, Lagos, on June 11, 2018, around 1.30am and paid the driver with a fake N1,000 note.
During the trip, he allegedly requested to alight under the guise of forgetting his phone after he had collected a change of N700.
The driver, however, reportedly drove him to the nearest police post where he was arrested.
Our correspondent learnt that on a further search of the suspect, another fake note was found on him.
The cab driver, Salimon Mooshod, in his statement to the police, said, “When I picked him up, he said he wanted to give a man N200; he gave me N1,000 so that he could have change. I gave him N700 change. While I was going, the man said I should stop that he had forgotten his phone.
“Immediately, my mind went to the N1,000 he gave me and I checked the money again. I saw that the naira note did not have the CBN governor’s signature. I sped to where I saw some police officers and I shouted for help.”
The suspect, however, said he was not aware that the notes were counterfeit.
Osuohae was arraigned before an Ogba Magistrate’s court on one count of possessing fake naira notes, to which he pleaded guilty.
The charge read, “That you, Ifeanyi Osuohae, on June 11, 2018, about 1.30am on Akerele Street, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did have in your possession N2,000 forged bank notes.”
The police prosecutor, Michael Unah, said the offence contravened Section 372 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr A. A. Fashola, said the accused should be remanded in custody.