Three Persons Caught In CAR With Over 50 Million Francs CFA Of Fake Banknotes Allegedly Fabricated In Cameroon.

Three persons, Abdoulaye Aboubakar, Yaya, and Da Sylva Molo, are in police custody in Bangui, the capital of neighbouring Central African Republic, CAR,   for trafficking in fake currency commonly known as counterfeits. The three traffickers, that are all residents of Bangui, fell into the police dragnet on August 7, 2024, following investigation on the discovery of fake banknotes to the sum of 53 million francs CFA.

According to disclosures made by the police in Bangui, Abdoulaye Aboubakar in his statements to the police admitted that he was a middle man in the deal that has to do with trafficking in fake banknotes. He told the police that the  fake banknotes to the tune of of 53 million francs CFA, was fabricated in Douala, Cameroon, by a Nigerian national based in Cameroon’s economic capital.   He said the counterfeited money was fabricated by the Nigerian national on the demand of Yaya and his brother Da Sylva Molo in Bangui, who paid 5 million francs CFA in genuine banknotes, for the illicit deal. It is not certain if the total amount of fake banknotes that that were fabricated in that particular deal, was more than the 53 million francs CFA that the police discovered,

The Bangui police said their investigation thus had to extent to Douala in Cameroon, in collaboration with the Cameroonian police. It is not known whether the police have succeeded to trace or lay hands on the Nigerian national in Douala who allegedly fabricated the fake banknotes.

Meanwhile it would be recalled that a couple of months ago, security forces in neighbouring Equatorial Guinea, also nabbed a gang in possession of a huge sum of counterfeited FCFA banknotes. It was also alleged that the fake FCFA banknotes were fabricated in a neighbouring country.

The Case Of Cameroon

In Cameroon itself, there have been a number of reports in the last one year of persons caught with fake banknotes. A case in point happened in the rapidly growing town of Souza, Mungo Division in the Littoral Region. More than half a dozen persons, mostly women, were caught for trafficking in counterfeited FCFA banknotes. Police investigation showed that the arrested persons that were all residents of Souza were agents of a network trafficking in fake currency. According to the police investigation, the fake 10,000 FCFA banknotes for that particular network of traffickers were being fabricated in Bafoussam, West Region, and then sent to some towns in the country, where local agents were ‘recruited’ to change the fake money with genuine ones. For each 10,000 FCFA of fake banknote that an agent succeeded to change, he got a 20 % commission, that is, 2000 FCFA.

BEAC Remains Confidence

It should be noted that the FCFA banknotes that counterfeiters have been targeting, are “BEAC TYPE 2020”, that was put into circulation in the six member countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CENAC,  by the Bank of Central African States, BEAC, in December 2022. The six member countries of CEMAC that use the same currency, are Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic (Brazaville), Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. With the exception of Equatorial Guinea, the other countries are all former colonies of France.

It would be recalled that in putting out the new banknotes in 500 FCFA, 1000 FCFA, 2000 FCFA, 5000 FCFA and 10,000 FCFA, BEAC repeatedly assured  the population of the member countries of the CEMAC zone, that the banknotes (“BEAC TYPE 2020”) cannot be falsified or faked, and so is highly secured. When the huge sum of fake FCFA banknotes were found in Equatorial Guinea, BEAC reassured that the fake FCFA banknotes that some criminals have been trying to fabricate, can never be exactly like the genuine ones put into circulation by the institution. So far that seems to be the case. But that has not stopped trafficking.