Fake Currency business has become a common trade in Kenya. Over the recent past, billions of fake currency have been nabbed in Nairobi, with the most recent nabbed last week at Barclays Bank Queensway Branch. But who are the people involved in this dirty business?
An investigation carried out by a local daily shows that those involved include crooked police officers, fast-talking wheeler-dealers, immigration officers, bankers, high-end hotels and judicial officers.
The Standard, in its report says they send scouts to popular tourist destinations, where they reside in presidential suites in five-star hotels and interact with the rich and famous.
The schemers then open as many as 50 Facebook accounts to serve their guises.
They also pretend to be super-rich businessmen who can assist one make instant millions of shillings in the city under the sun.
The daily reported that there are printers in Luthuli, Khoja and Kirinyaga roads, whose specialty is bulk printing of counterfeit currency.
Godfathers of the illegal trade are said to be two chief inspectors of police who operate within the international and national arena.
The counterfeiters mostly pitch camp in Parklands, Kilimani, Lavington and Eastleigh.
They smuggle the fake currency to refugee camps, South Sudan and Somalia, where people trade in US dollars.
Police revealed some of the counterfeit currency is used to finance criminal activities, such as money laundering businesses and terrorism.