Ghana has deported a 55-year-old Nigerian man, Aremu Adegboyega, after a court found him guilty of smuggling fake CFA francs worth over $100,000 into the country.
Justice Christiana Cann of the Circuit Court in Accra ordered Adegboyega’s immediate deportation after his conviction. The Ghana Immigration Service is carrying out the deportation.
Police said customs officers arrested Adegboyega in 2023 at the Aflao border while he was riding on a motorcycle as a passenger and carrying a suspicious backpack.
“When the officers searched him, they found bundles of suspected fake currency — CFA francs totaling CFA 80.6 million and Nigerian naira amounting to N101,500,” said ASP Isaac Anquandah, as quoted by The Chronicle, a Ghanaian newspaper.
Further investigation showed that he smuggled the counterfeit money from Togo into Ghana. In his confession, Adegboyega admitted he knew the money was fake.
“He said he got the fake currency from a man named Alhaji Saibu in Nigeria. Saibu was acting under orders from another man known as Alhaji Dials, believed to be based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire,” the police said.
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The court found Adegboyega guilty of possessing fake currency and entering Ghana illegally.
For possessing counterfeit CFA francs, the court fined him GH¢3,000. If he fails to pay, he will serve two years in prison with hard labour. For entering the country without permission, he received another fine of GH¢1,440 or another two years in prison.
The court ruled that the sentences will run at the same time, so he would serve only two years if he fails to pay both fines.
Adegboyega is not the only Nigerian facing legal trouble in Ghana. Another Nigerian, Abu Arome, is currently on trial with three Ghanaians for allegedly using fake documents, forged signatures, and false claims to commit fraud.