A Ghanaian court has ordered the deportation of a Nigerian national, Aremu Adegboyega, who was convicted for smuggling counterfeit currency valued at over $100,000 into the country through an illegal border route.
Justice Christiana Cann of the Accra Circuit Court handed down the deportation order after Adegboyega was found guilty of multiple offenses, including possession of forged notes and illegal entry.
The Ghana Immigration Service has been directed to carry out his immediate deportation.
According to Assistant Superintendent of Police Isaac Anquandah, as reported by The Chronicle, Adegboyega was arrested in 2023 by customs officers stationed at the Aflao border.
He was intercepted while riding as a passenger on a motorcycle at an unauthorised entry point known as “Beat Zero” along the Ghana-Togo border.
Suspicious of his movements, border officers searched his backpack and discovered bundles of counterfeit currency, including CFA francs totaling CFA 80,653,000 and Nigerian naira amounting to ₦101,500.
Further investigations revealed that the counterfeit currency had been smuggled from Togo into Ghana.
During police interrogation, Adegboyega reportedly admitted knowing the money was fake.
He claimed he received the counterfeit notes from a man named Alhaji Saibu in Nigeria, under instructions from a suspected mafia figure known as Alhaji Dials, believed to be based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The 55-year-old was charged with two counts of possessing forged currency under Section 18(2) of Ghana’s Currency Act, 1964 (Act 242), and one count of unlawful entry.
For possessing counterfeit notes, he was fined 250 penalty units (equivalent to GH¢3,000), with a default sentence of two years’ imprisonment with hard labour.
For entering Ghana illegally, he was fined an additional 120 penalty units (GH¢1,440), also carrying a two-year jail term if unpaid.
The court ruled that the sentences will run concurrently, meaning the maximum term he could serve is two years.
In addition to the sentencing, the court directed his immediate deportation to Nigeria.
Adegboyega’s case adds to a growing list of fraud-related prosecutions involving foreign nationals in Ghana.
Another Nigerian, Abu Arome, is currently on trial alongside three Ghanaians for alleged fraud involving forged documents, fake signatures, and fraudulent claims, according to a recent statement by Nigeria’s Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi.