Police arrest three men with Sh200,000 fake money

Bungoma, Kenya: Police in Bungoma on Thursday arrested three men and impounded Sh200,000 fake money in 1,000 currency when they were about to deposit it in a leading financial institution.

Bungoma County Administration Police commander Paul Soi confirmed that Stephen Kibingei, Sultan Okumu and Alex Masika were arrested while in the process of depositing the fake money at Equity bank.

"The Cashier at the bank alerted our officers who were guarding the bank at the time and they managed to arrest the suspects who looked suspicious all through, after carrying out a search on them they were found to be in possession of the fake money which was impounded and the suspects apprehended," said Soi

Two of the suspects come from Tulienge in Sirisia constituency while one of their accomplices is a resident of Makutano in Kanduyi constituency. The suspects are alleged to be among a cartel distributing fake money in Bungoma County.

"Our hawk eyed officers pounced on them and we are holding them for interrogation to know where the money is processed from," said the AP commander.

Soi said that they will crack on the syndicate which has made many people lose their money and hence run at a loss despite investing a lot of cash.

"We are appealing to the public to be vigilant when making transactions because these cartels are preying on unsuspecting members of the public," said the AP boss.

He called on M-PESA agents to be on the lookout when carrying out transactions especially at night adding that the impounded fake money had one serial number and a faint water mark.

He called on members of the public to be watchful to avoid incidences of being conned of their hard earned cash by a cartel distributing fake money in order to curb crime.