Rwanda National Police

Investigations into people alleged to be involved in either counterfeiting currencies or distributing them led to the arrest of one Elias Mbagariye, 27, in Ngoma District on Tuesday.

Mbagariye, currently detained at Sake Police Station after was at the time of his arrest found in possession of fake currency notes amounting to Rwf102, 000,

Inspector of Police (IP) Jean Bosco Dusabe, the Eastern Region Police Spokesperson, said.

The seized counterfeit currency notes were in Rwf1, 000, Rwf2, 000 and Rwf5, 000 denominations, he added.

“He was at the time trying to hide the fake monies in a banana plantation when he was spotted by police and residents,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier on, Police and residents had intervened to iron out issues between the suspect and his parents, to unite them.

“During the process, Mbagariye attempted to leave the scene. One of the residents informed the police that he suspected him to be involved in money forgery or circulation of fake notes; he was pursued and indeed they found him hiding the money in a nearby banana plantation. He was immediately taken into custody and exhibits seized,” Dusabe said.

“There are reports that he had spend some of the counterfeit notes earlier buying goods in the area trading centre. Investigations are still underway to get to the bottom of it and to bring to justice anyone that could be part of this economic crime,” he noted.

IP Dusabe thanked the residents for the vigilance and reporting the suspect.

A number of people involved in such economic crimes this year.

“Circulating fake currencies is a criminal offence and is punishable under the Rwanda law.”

He however called for more cooperation to effectively prevent crimes in general and subsequently to ensure that, communities become crime free.

Under article 603 of the Rwandan Penal Code, circulating counterfeited monies is punished with prison sentence of up to three years.