Two foreigners, Kenyan arrested with new fake notes

Three suspects including a Nigerian and Congolese were arrested in Yatta area, Machakos County for being in possession of fake Sh1,000 new notes of Kenyan currency.

Police said they also recovered chemicals used to make the fake notes from the suspects.

This was after a complaint had been lodged with the police in the area. The officers were informed the suspects were circulating the money in Kakumini village before an ambush was laid.

Police said they are concerned with the choice of the location by the group to circulate their fake papers.

“We believe they chose such a place because of less suspicion but we will get them,” said Machakos County police boss Farah Maalim.

This comes at a time when Central Bank of Kenya is conducting demonetisation. The deadline for the exercise is September 30 and the bank regulator says there will be no extension.

So far, he said, banks have collected more than 100 million pieces of old Sh1,000 notes out 217 million pieces that were in circulation when the demonetisation was announced, CBK governor Dr Patrick Njoroge said.

CBK announced on Madaraka Day it was withdrawing the old notes in a bid to counter counterfeits, corruption and money laundering.

During the demonetisation period, individuals exchanging less than Sh1 million of the old notes and non-account holders were instructed to exchange them through the currency centres, CBK branches and commercial banks.

Bank customers and non-account holders having an excess of Sh5 million are required to get CBK’s approval.

The old generation bank notes will be worthless papers from October 1, 2019. There have been cases where fraudsters have been making fake notes to gain during the demonetisation period.

To beat the threat, banks and other handlers were asked to be cautious when handling the new notes.