Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court in Enugu State has convicted and sentenced Nwachukwu Ifeanyi to six months imprisonment for currency racketeering.
Ifeanyi was arrested on February 9, 2024, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Special Task Force after intelligence linked him to illegal currency sales. According to a statement by EFCC’s Head of Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale, investigations revealed that Ifeanyi used his shop, located at 98 Douglas Road, Owerri, Imo State, to hawk newly issued naira notes.
Following his arrest, Ifeanyi was prosecuted on an amended one-count charge related to currency racketeering involving N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira). The charge reads:
“That you, Nwachukwu Ifeanyi, sometime in February 2024, at Douglas Road, Owerri, Imo State, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, hawked the total sum of Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500,000.00) mints in Five Hundred Naira (N500) denominations, issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 21 (4) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, and punishable under Section 21 (1) of the same Act.”
When the charge was read to him in court, Ifeanyi pleaded guilty. Following his plea, the prosecution counsel, Blessing Obasi, called EFCC operative Isaac Adole Enemona to review the case’s facts.
Enemona informed the court that Ifeanyi was caught selling N500 denominations amounting to N500,000 at his Owerri shop. He also identified the exhibit money, Exhibit Registration Form, documents extracted from the convict’s phone, the Certification of Identification, and statements voluntarily given by the convict on February 9, 10, 14, and 15, 2024. These pieces of evidence were admitted by the court.
With the facts established, the prosecution urged the court to convict and sentence Ifeanyi accordingly. Meanwhile, his defence counsel, Alex Williams, pleaded for leniency, arguing that his client was a first-time offender who chose not to waste the court’s time.
After reviewing the evidence and submissions, Justice Umar ruled that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge sentenced Ifeanyi to six months in prison, with the option of a N1 million fine. Additionally, the N500,000 recovered from him at the time of his arrest was forfeited to the federal government.