English
Kinyarwanda
Police and investigators in Ngoma District arrested a suspected conman on Wednesday, who was attempting to buy a house using plain papers.
The papers had been cut in the size of US dollar notes.
Theoneste Munyabugingo, 28, was arrested in Kinunga Cell of Remera Sector, as he was attempted to fraudulently acquire a house, Police said.
The would-be victims identified as Poline Uwanyirigira, said that she had spent some days negotiating with Munyabugingo on the price and they finally settled for Rwf2.5 million.
On Wednesday at about 3:30pm, Uwanyirigira said, Munyabugingo came with a sealed small box with labels indicating that it contained US$100, 000.
“I was with another person, whom I had called as the witness in signing the sale agreement. So, Munyabugingo, told us that he had dollar notes in the box and that he didn’t have time to exchange it or go to the bank to withdraw Rwandan francs," Uwanyirigira narrated.
She added: "He tried to seduce us believe that this was worth a fortune so as to go ahead with the agreement and that he would also connect us to someone that would help us exchange the dollars."
“I don’t know dollars or its worth… I don’t know where they exchange it neither did the man I was with. So, we decided to call the Police to be very sure that we were not being conned."
According to the acting District Police Commander for Ngoma, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Dominique Nkurunziza, Police officers and investigators at Remera station immediately responded to the call.
“Good enough the suspect didn’t know that Police had been called in, that’s why we found him at the scene. When they opened the small box they found it was stashed with just papers in white and black colours, he was immediately taken into custody,” CIP Nkurunziza said.
According to the suspect, he got the papers from someone in Kigali, but he couldn’t divulge further details.
The DPC commended the vigilance of the would-be victim adding that “such suspicions are healthy and preventive in cases where one is being duped.”
“Don’t engage in any deal when you are not one hundred percent sure that it’s real. If you have your suspicions call the Police or any other relevant authorities to help you. For example, if we had found that the dollars were real, this woman would have gone ahead to seal the deal,” CIP Nkurunziza said.
Upon conviction, fraud or deception under article 174 of the new penal code, is punishable with an imprisonment of two to three years and a fine of between Rwf3 million and Rwf5 million.
