Two foreigners, Kenyan arrested with fake notes

Three suspects including a Nigerian and Congolese were arrested in Yatta area, Machakos County for being in possession of fake Kenyan currency of the new 1,000 notes.

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 the 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 of 217 million pieces that were in circulation when the demonetisation was announced, CBK Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge said.

The arrest also comes less than a week after a box full of fake US dollars was found by roadside in Nairobi.

The fake US dollars and Euros, spotted near Coptic Hospital along Ngong Road were in different stages of manufacturing.

Pedestrians using the feeder road spotted some of the papers splashed on the roadside and collected few before calling police on Sunday afternoon.

Police from Kilimani visited the scene and collected the papers. The officers established that $640,000 fake papers were ready for distribution to the market while $2.4million were in their final stage of formation.

There were also 2,350 fake Euros and 15 liters of washing chemicals in powder form.

Nairobi Police boss Philip Ndolo said they are yet to establish those behind the dumping of the fake currencies.