According to Punch,The Oyo State Police Command has discovered a place in a remote village of Ibadan, where thousands of fake pounds, euros, dollars and other foreign currencies were being produced.
The
Commissioner of Police in the state, Mohammed Katsina, said that the
discovery was made by the command’s ambush squad in a village called
Ojoku in Badeku, Ona-Ara Local Government Area of the state. The police
described the area as fast transforming to an abode for criminals,
having earlier served as a kidnappers’ den.
Our
correspondent, who visited the scene of the crime on Monday, discovered
that the police had cordoned off the compound shielded by tall trees and
thick bushes.
Two
Toyota Camry cars with number plate AA 125 DK and AA 207 DH and a Nissan
Almera lift back model with number plate AGL 882 DF were found in the
compound, which was fenced with corrugated iron sheets.
Several notes of fake foreign currencies littered the ground.
Apart from being a fake currency factory, the place also served as a shrine where several criminal activities were perpetrated.
There
are two houses in the compound with at least six rooms adorned with
various statues to give the impression that the place is being used as a
shrine. The walls were decorated with the group’s description of gods
to scare victims.
Ismail
Adesina, 43, who was arrested at the scene, said he did not know
anything about the currencies and that the owners had escaped.
He said
he was a herbalist and that he had been involved in several financial
crimes under the pretext of helping victims to cure ailments and
barrenness.
Adesina added that the owners of the three vehicles were canvassers who combed the town to woo customers.
He
said, “I am a herbalist and I inherited the skill from my father. I am
also a conman. I cured diabetes, barrenness, blindness and other
ailments. I have cured many people. My partner, who escaped yesterday,
knows how the currencies were produced. Taju and Wasiu are my other
partners.
We have
been here for about four years. We collected varying sums of money from
our victims but we do not kidnap people. We bought the land in the bush
and built the houses. I am a native of Beyerunka in Ibadan. The names
of our victims are with my partners.”
Adesina said his wife had left him and taken his child away because he could not provide for them.
He
added that he had bought a car from the proceeds of criminal activities
but had to sell it. Asked if his father also taught him how to swindle
people through fake healing, Adesina said that he was a genuine
herbalist before he took to the crime.
The
police said apart from taken money from their victims, the suspects also
devised a way of gagging them by taking their nude pictures and
threaten to release them if they failed to keep the secret.
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