He had thought that few hours hence, he would be in Spain. However, he was to experience the shock of his life moments after his luggage were checked and discovered to be containing five fake traveler’s cheques all belonging to various multinational banks, valued at € 30,000..
Security personnel at the airport quickly took the suspect, who was traveling with passport No. A0283149, into custody, and he was subsequently transferred to the Special Fraud Unit, Milllvertion, Ikoyi Lagos for more investigations.
Crime Alert learnt that while the suspect was in the SFU’s custody, it was established that he was a regular patron of the notorious Oluwole market in Lagos Island, where fake items such as cheque books and traveler’s cheques, international passports, traveling documents, certificates of various higher institutions, various official stamps of government parastatals, corporate bodies and federal ministries, are produced.
Okpala Alex, the suspect
But the source, also added that the police are unable to find the source of the the fake cheuqes while in Europe. “He has a source and contact man who might have been supplying him with those cheques while in Europe and we are frantically looking for him. These kinds of fraud operate as syndicate and if you must crack that syndicate and solve this crime completely, then you must go all out for the chief perpetrators. But if we get to Alex supplier then we can get the root of it all.”
While reacting to the allegations leveled against him, the suspect denied any wrong doing rather he claimed that the fake five travelers checks, which includes four Lloyds TSB Bank Plc cheques in the name of Lukman Olayinka Yusuf valued at € 16, 600.00, two blank U.S Bank Cashier’s cheques number 90-35821222, two Us U.S Bank Cashier’s cheques written in the name of Pend Hui Liu valued at $ 5,478.82, and another U.S Bank Cashier’s cheques No. 012635 without payee’s name omitted, two other sets of official cheque of the Guernsey Bank, Washinton, Ohio written in the name of Liu Pen Hui valued at $6,056.74, that were found in his luggage, were not his.
He stated that they were hidden in some food items he received form a friend’s brother in Nigeria. “ I am not the owner of those fake travelers cheques and I don’t know any thing about it. They were found inside some food items one of my friends in Spain. Otunba Kazeem Ishola Alabe, called me when I arrived Nigeria to tend to my sick mother, that his younger brother Murphy would send some food items to him through me. But on the day he brought item I was not at home to check them out. But I was shocked when they were detected at the airport.”
Continuing the Delta state born suspect said he has been residing in Spain for a long time without a criminal record. “ I am from Kwale Town in Ndokwa Local Government area of Delta State, I traveled to Spain by land through Morocco and Bamako in 2003 through the help of a friend I have known as Director. I stayed in Spain illegally for 2 years before I got my papers in 2005. Presently I work as a laborer at Contesa Building Construction Company.”
No matter how convincing the suspect’s tale sounded, at the completion of investigations, the Commissioner of Police in_charge of SFU, CP Chinwike Asadu, ordered his arraignment on a five count charge following which he was later remanded in prison custody.
The police boss also advised security agents at the airports on the need for thorough and painstaking checking of persons traveling in and out of the country so as to curb the excesses of desperate individuals who are bent on denting the image of the country.
Source : Vanguard
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