Florence Mutesi
13 February 2008
Kigali — Two men have been arrested for allegedly counterfeiting Rwandan and Burundian currencies.
The two suspects, Jean Claude Kanamugire and Jean de Dieu Karengera were allegedly found in possession of forged Frw5000 notes worth over Frw2 million and Burundi Francs worth FBU480,000.
Police spokesperson, Willy Marcel Higiro (pictured right), confirmed the arrests over the weekend. The development comes two weeks after a student was also arrested over the same crime.
Kanamugire and Karengera were arrested in Giporoso in Remera, a city suburb.
"We found them on February 5 in Giporoso where they had parked a car (registered RAA 802) with the notes in that car," a policeman attached to Kicukiro Police Station, said on request of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
He said they found them with one million Francs and that the suspects told them that about Frw1.5 million was expected to be at Kanamugire's place.
However, after searching Kanamugire's home, police could not find the counterfeited money. They instead found it at one Fidele Urimubeshi's home in Kimironko, another Kigali suburb. Police is yet to arrest Urimubenshi who is now among the suspects.
The men were reportedly involved in exchange Frw1 million counterfeit money for Frw600, 000 genuine notes. The duo has since denied involvement in the duplication.
Karengera said that he was told by a friend whom he only identified as Emmanuel to look for market of the forged currencies from which he would later get commission.
He denied having a role in the duplication of the money. He only admits that he made a mistake of looking for the market for the forged money.
Kanamugire said he only admits a mistake of accommodating criminals. He also asked the police to look for Urimubenshi and Emmanuel, saying they are the ones who know more about the deal.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The New Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
