The Police, in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), have reportedly arrested 12 women for selling naira notes in parts of Lagos State, New Telegraph reports.
The women were allegedly selling mint naira notes to people going to parties to ‘spray’ celebrates. They are likely to be charged for contravening Section 21 of the CBN Act, 2007.
The suspects included Fausat Jimoh, Bisoye Oyegbile, Balikis Ajadi, Bisola Amoru, Abidemi Oladejo and Ajoke Suraj. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of SCIID, Bolaji Salami, said:
“It is an offence to sell naira notes at weddings or any gathering.
It contravenes the CBN Act. We arrested six suspects the previous weekend and later arrested six others on Friday. We recovered N35,500 from these suspects but N465,000 was recovered from those arrested last week.
They would be charged to court as soon as possible. Investigation would reveal how they come about these new currencies. We are going to get to the root of it because the offence is punishable by N50,000 fine, or six months imprisonment or both. No good country would allow its currency to be abused in anyway.”
An official of the CBN said:
“We know that these are not the real targets because if they don’t get the mint notes, they won’t be able to sell it. So, our main targets are commercial banks and even our staff who release the money to these vendors.
We are also going to start arresting Nigerians who organise events and allow those selling naira notes in their venues. Already, we have started arresting people who ‘spray’ money at social events.”