The Police in Gambia have arrested four Senegalese and a Gambia national for alleged currency counterfeiting.
They were arrested with more than 300,000 Gambian dalasis and one million FCFA in fake banknotes, ready for release and circulation in the local market.
An additional 65, 400 fake dalasi notes were yet to be cut to the size of the real banknotes.
The equipment seized from them included printers, special A4 size papers ordered from Senegal, and multiple colours to print the fake currency.
The arrests were made near Kerr Serign, a posh residential area located around 20 kilometers outside Banjul.
The police are asking the public to be attentive to all monies in circulation.
“People should be vigilant when they receive monies, and to do their quick checks to see if they are authentic or not.
“If you look at some of these fake currencies, the paper that they used to produce it are usually very smooth, unlike the authentic money that we have.
“That might be one thing that you can do to be able to raise the alarm”, Police PRO Lamin Njie said.
PRO Njie further called on landlords to be wary of activities taking place within their compounds.
“We want to send an message to the general public, especially landlords. When they have strangers, they need to be also monitoring what activities those strangers are doing in their compounds or rented properties”.
The police say their investigations continue, and that they intend to arraign the accused persons in their custody before the courts.