Ouagadougou: Suspected delinquents were manufacturing counterfeit euro and dollar notes with a total value of 7 billion CFA francs, the economic and financial unit of the research section announced on Monday of the third gendarmerie legion of Ouagadougou.
‘The 9 bags of paper coupons that they brought for reproduction were going to give, according to their estimate, 7 billion CFA francs,’ the commander of the research section, Lieutenant Justin Bagré.
According to him, these manufacturers, who invested around 50 million CFA francs in their project, planned to sell the counterfeit notes through markets and banks.
According to Justin Bagré, these thugs, being professionals trained on the job, both inside and outside the country, had been operating since 2016 using a machine called in their jargon ‘the mill.’ tickets “.
‘These alleged delinquents, with their ‘money mill’, made denominations of 100 euro and dollar notes to put them into circulation through their victims,’ said Mr. Bagré.
This network, made u
p of four individuals, two of whom are on the run, is accused, according to the lieutenant, of criminal conspiracy, coinage, fraud, money laundering by an organized gang and illegal possession of weapons of war. .
In the commander’s opinion, two other members of the network, the brains of the group, are prisoners at the Ouagadougou remand center and they operated from there.
The network’s modus operandi, according to the section commander, is very impressive to say the least. Because they used subterfuges to deceive the vigilance of their victims and slip in the counterfeit bank notes.
‘The machine has two boxes, one for the good notes and the other for the bad ones, so that when the victim comes for the first time, they are served the good notes. Subsequently, we blame breakdowns or even the color of the tickets to increase betting and use counterfeit tickets,’ maintained the lieutenant.
The alleged offenders will be presented in the coming days before the prosecutor for further action, he concluded.
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ource: Burkina Information Agency