Police arrest two men over fake money

RWAMAGANA - Rwamagana Police have arrested two men for allegedly possessing counterfeit currency of various denominations. Police said Samuel Hakizimana, 40, and James Gasirikare, 36, were arrested on Monday after paying for beer in one of the local bars using fake money. Once the proprietors detected that he had been given fake notes, he raised the alarm, police said. The culprits were found with a huge bundle of counterfeit currency notes, mostly in denominations of five thousand. Hakizimana, one of the accused admitted to the charges and requested to be forgiven, but his co-accused, Gasirikare denied any involvement. “I was buying the notes from my co-accused at 30% discount. I used the money to purchase items in crowded and busy places like markets and bars. Our main source is in Kigali,” Hakizimana said. Jeanine Mbabazi, one of the business proprietors in the area said that people with fake money normally come during busy hours. “These are terrible people…we shall be scrutinizing every note we are paid,” she said. Police advised traders to always critically look out for the security features on money been given out for the purposes of sorting out genuine notes. Ends