5 in police net for hawking naira

Five persons have been arrested by the police in Ondo State for alleged illicit sale of the country’s currency notes. The suspects, according to the spokesman for the Ondo State police command, Mr Femi Joseph, were arrested last Thursday and Friday, October 4 and 5, 2018 by policemen working  in collaboration with the Central Bank […]

Five persons have been arrested by the police in Ondo State for alleged illicit sale of the country’s currency notes.

The suspects, according to the spokesman for the Ondo State police command, Mr Femi Joseph, were arrested last Thursday and Friday, October 4 and 5, 2018 by policemen working  in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to Joseph, the sting operation was aimed at curbing the illicit sale of the Naira, despite constant warning by the police and the CBN.

He stressed that the clampdown on the Naira vendors and sellers is backed up by the CBN Act Sections 20 and 21 “that make it a punishable offence for any person to hawk, sell or otherwise trade in Naira notes, coins or any other note issued by the Bank.”

The police PRO disclosed that the suspects, comprising men and women, were arrested at various parts of the state during the raid with large sums of money consisting of various denominations.

Investigations have already commenced on the matter to ascertain the source or otherwise of the new Naira notes, Joseph said.

“The Nigeria Police and the CBN will continue this clampdown on the perpetrators of this offence, which is punishable under the CBN Act 2007, to a jail term not less than six months or to a fine not less than N50,000, or both.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, acts of spraying the naira notes at occasions, soiling and writing on it, squeezing it, as well as hawking and selling of the country’s currency notes, are abuses of the Naira and are punishable by the law,” he said.