Police cracks down counterfeit racket

By Joachim Ssembuze

The Directorate of Crime Intelligence in close coordination with Katwe police station have arrested seven suspects of counterfeit Dollar forex business that have been robbing Ugandans billions of money.

According to the Kampala Metropolitan police Spokesperson ASP Patrick Onyango, the suspects were arrested in a raid conducted at Linca Hotel in Ndeeba, Kampala District where they always also recovered fake US dollars totaling $320,000 and a safe.

Onyango further revealed that the suspects were thoroughly surveilled over a couple of months following their continuous action of defrauding victims, by selling to them fake US dollars at prices lower than the prevailing exchange rates and related multiplicity scams.

“The exhibits are to be submitted for further forensic analysis at Bank of Uganda, while the suspects are being processed on charges of dealing in forged currency notes, counterfeiting and uttering counterfeit currency notes,” he said.

The suspects have been identified as; Robert Ivan Muliisa, male adult and resident of Mpererwe, Hillary Mark Asimwe a resident of Namasuba Kikajjo; Rosemary Tukwasibwe a female adult and resident of Kamwenge Rugonjo; Geoffrey Haters a resident of Kyebando Katale Zone, Anita Tusasirwe a eesident of Ndejje, and Moses Hadengho a male resident of Masajja A.

The police mouthpiece however urged Ugandans to keep vigilant and avoid falling victims of illicit transactions that may at times appear so lucrative.

“We would like to warn all unscrupulous business persons who engage in fake US dollars and other illicit transactions that our multi agency task teams are robust and will crack them down and bring them to justice,” he said.