Nigerians Nabbed Over Forged Ghana Passports

TWO Nigerians have been nabbed in Tanzania for holding nine fake passports and entering the country illegally.

The suspects, Okoloagwi (31) and Amos Adelek were found early this week with two Ghanaian and seven Nigerian passports at the Tanzania-Kenya border and were travelling on a Takrim bus which was heading for Dar Es Salaam from Kenya.

The Arusha Regional Immigration Officer (RIO), Method Rwekaza has told the media here that six of the passports were blank but had photos not bearing the faces of the suspects and with different names. The suspects who will appear before the court in northern Tanzania's town of Arusha, had departure and arrival stamps of Murtala Mohammed Airport in Nigeria. He said further that other passports bears stamps of Sierra Leone High Commission in Kenya and a Tanzanian via sticker, which was earlier reported to have been lost.

Fake passports scandal comes when another Nigerian has been sued in Zanzibar for allegedly issuing fake travelers checks. This scandal involves a Nigerian, Sydney Agwuatu alias Nyika Chinyama who has so far denied all the charges against him. He arrived in the Isles ten days ago aboard an Air Tanzania plane from Mombasa, Kenya and is alleged to have attempted to cash six 500 US dollars travelers' checks at the Blue Bay Beach Hotel, but the hotel cashier became suspicious.

" The accused tried to cash six travelers checks, which were forged to read 500 US dollars each, while in fact were issued in the denominations of 20 dollars each," Senior Superintendent of Police, Patrice Biatao had alleged before the court last Friday.

He told the court that the accused attempted to cash the travelers checks from a cashier, Rehema Msuya at the hotel. The case was however adjoined until August 22, this year when it comes up for another mention. The Magistrate, Mr. Yesaya Kayenge granted bail to the accused after asked to do so by his defense counsel.

The head of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Zanzibar, Mr. Ramathan Kinyogo, told the press in the Isles last week that the police were holding Chinyama in connection with the fake travelers checks scandal. Chinyama holds a Zimbabwean passport No. ZA 9984912. But investigations showed that the suspect was a Nigerian, the CID head told the press.

He explained further that the cashier reported the matter to the hotel manager, who contacted American Express dealers for the travelers' checks, who confirmed issuance of the checks, but in 20 US dollars denominations and not 500 US dollars. The police decided to hold the suspect.