An Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada, FCT, sentenced a 31-year-old security guard, Uduigwomen Precious, to one-month imprisonment over 17 fake N500 notes.

The police charged Mr Precious with possessing counterfeit currency. He pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.

The judge, Abdullahi Abdulkarim, convicted and sentenced Mr Precious to one month in jail without the option of a fine.

Mr Abdulkarim ordered the convict to pay a fine of N10,000 or, in default, serve another jail term of two months. He said that the sentences would run consecutively.

“The convict is a first-time offender, has shown remorse for his act, and has no previous criminal records,” he said.

He warned the convict to desist from committing crimes in the future and ordered that anyone not satisfied with the judgment should apply to the FCT High Court within 30 days of the judgment.

Prosecution counsel Abdullahi Tanko told the court that a team from the Nigerian Army attached to the 176 Guards Battalion in Gwagwalada arrested the convict on July 10.

Mr Tanko said the convict was caught with 17 pieces of the N500 banknote suspected to be counterfeit for printing and some coloured inks.

(NAN)