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‘Money makers’
cause chaos
Currency made in Kaloleni lacks
quality
By Our Police Reporter
What is a more pleasant way of starting 2009 than being in a position to
be able to mint your own money, whatever amount that you need. Two Dar
es Salaam based crooks came to Arusha at the beginning of the year with
a brand new money minting machine to help people of Arusha make money.
They succeeded for a while but now they are behind remand prison bars.
The two suspects Godfrey Raphael (33) and Mohamed Shaban (33) were
arrested at Kaloleni on January 2. with their production equipment and
accessories.
According to Arusha’s Regional Police Commander, Basilio Matei the two
were nabbed after a disgruntled woman reported them to the police. The
woman is said to have given the “money makers” Tsh 200,000 in exchange
for shs 3 million churned out in a house at Kaloleni within Arusha
municipality. The Woman however reported the con artists to the police
when she found out that she could not spend the notes as they were
glaringly fake.
An under cover policeman was sent to the location and gave away Tsh
10,000 so that he could have sh 30,000 minted for him. His request was
granted by the “money makers” who issued the police officer with
counterfeit shs 30,000 in a matter of seconds. Also in a matter of
seconds the “money makers” were put under police arrest.
During interrogation, according to police sources, the suspects revealed
that they had a network operating mainly in China, Dubai and Nairobi.
They said their operations in Arusha were backed by the Nairobi office
which is under supervision of Nigerians.
They explained to the police the whole process of minting money and the
chemicals required to make a useless piece of white paper look like a sh.
10,000 note. Usually when one asks to have Tsh. 50 million made for him,
he has to pay the money makers Tshs 500,000 in genuine bank notes.
Apparently the “money makers” themselves do not spend the money that
they make. They sell them off to earn genuine legal currency.
Commander Matei said police were now investigating the crime network and
warned people not to be taken for a ride by the con artists. Counterfeit
notes are common in Tanzania but according earlier police reports the
fake money is smuggled into the country mainly from Nairobi, Kenya.
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