LIRA– Police in Lira has three young men in custody for allegedly possessing counterfeit US dollars worth six thousand three hundred (6300), about Shs29M.
Ongel Ambrose, 19, from Alebtong district, Ochero Peter 18, from Otuke district and Abwon Morris, 18 from Oyam district told Police they are all Senior Four [4] students of Bright Light College along Juba road, Ojwina division in Lira Municipality.
According to North Kyoga police spokesperson, Mr David Ongom Odong, the trio was arrested on Tuesday by Housing Finance Bank security guards with 6300 fake United States Dollars worth trying to exchange into home currency.
“There are complains coming up from the members of the public within Lira Town of ATM, Mobile Money and counterfeit currencies related fraudsters that have victimized the softly targeted persons,” reads a public statement signed by North Kyoga Regional Police spokesperson.
Odong added that, “as the Police we want to categorically inform the public that fraud is a crime and therefore in the same regard warn them that they should be very vigilant especially when they go about their transactions using the ATM cards and Mobile Money businesses because our intelligence report indicates that these fraudsters often masquerade around the bank premises and Mobile Money points within the town and fraudulently engage their victims in the name of assisting them to operate the ATM and at the end access people’s PIN numbers and change people’s ATM cards where they disappear with it and withdraw people’s money from another ATM access points within town”.
The suspects are currently being held at Lira CPS on the alleged possession of counterfeit notes vide SD Ref. 34/18/09/2018.
This is not the first time for such related faking, in June police held four men for selling “fake” MTN scratch cards worth Shs112.5 million at Naggalama Police Station in Kampala.
The suspects were purportedly from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and brought into Uganda from Kihihi town in Kanungu District, west of the capital Kampala.
