The criminal investigation department (CID) of the police in Warrap State on Monday arrested two men for being in possession of counterfeit US dollars in the Kuajok market.
The state CID director, Brigadier Akuechbeny Machol Majok, said his officers recovered the fake USD 2600 from Chok Machar Dhieu and Choacinbaai also known as Mayar when they tried to exchange the counterfeit notes for South Sudanese Pounds (SSP).
“They were identified to be from Yirol center in Lakes state. The first suspect is called Chok Machar Dhieu and another one sometimes calls himself Choacinbaai or Mayar and they claimed that they were sent by a person in Juba to buy cows,” Brig. Machol said. “We are sure that those innocent people whom they have bought cows from will be really affected when they want to exchange the fake dollars with SSP in Kuajok town.”
He added: “The work of CID is to prevent crimes and apprehend criminals. Kuajok CID managed to arrest the two suspects who were carrying American money. One person exchanged the dollars in Nur el din al Mohamed’s shop in Kuajok market and when the accused tried to escape on a motorbike, CID caught him.”
He said another person visited the suspect in police custody and feigned innocence but eventually admitted that he worked in cahoots with the first suspect.
Meanwhile, Santino Diing, the Warrap State minister of cabinet affairs, said the money was taken for verification to the local branch of Ivory Bank and found to be fake.
“On 19 January, two suspects were arrested on the suspicion of carrying fake USD 2,600. This fake money was first taken to Ivory Bank for confirmation on whether it was real or fake and the bank management wrote back to CID that they do not have a testing machine and that they carried out manual verification and found that the money was fake,” Minister Diing said.
He added that the suspects will be arraigned in court.
“The two suspects are now in police custody awaiting trial though they claimed that there is a big man in Juba who sent them,” Diing said. “The public prosecutor will arraign them to court and that big man in Juba will be traced although they have refused to mention his name.”