A 55-year-old Nigerian man convicted of smuggling large sums of fake CFA Francs currency, amounting to over $100,000, into Ghana, will be deported to Nigeria.
The convict, Aremu Timothy Adegboyega, was convicted by an Accra Circuit Court.
Adegboyega, who was initially on trial after pleading not guilty, changed his plea to guilty midway through the court proceedings.
He was charged with two counts of possessing forged notes contrary to Section 18(2) of the Currency Act, 1964 (Act 242) and one count of illegal entry into Ghana.
The court fined him the equivalent of GH¢3,000 or two years in prison with hard labour. He was also fined the equivalent of GH¢1,440, a two-year prison term.
Adegboyega was arrested on January 17, 2023, by Customs officers stationed at the Aflao border.
He was a pillion passenger on a motorcycle and carrying a backpack; he drew the suspicion of the officers, who searched his belongings.
The search uncovered bundles of currency suspected to be counterfeit: CFA Francs totalling CFA 80,653,000 and Naira totalling ₦101,500.
Further investigations revealed that the accused had smuggled the forged currency into Ghana from Togo.
During interrogation, he confessed in a caution statement that he knew the notes were forged.
He claimed he had received the counterfeit currency from an individual named Alhaji Saibu in Nigeria, acting on instructions from one Alhaji Dials, allegedly a mafia figure based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The case was handed over to the Ghana Police Service on January 20, 2023, for further investigation, which is reportedly ongoing.
Authorities say the conviction sends a clear message to anyone attempting to undermine Ghana’s financial and border security systems.
