A Ghanaian court has ordered the deportation of a 56-year-old Nigerian, Aremu Timothy Adegboyega, after convicting him of smuggling counterfeit CFA francs worth over $100,000 into the country through an illegal border crossing.

The ruling was delivered by Justice Christiana Cann of the Circuit Court in Accra, who directed the Ghana Immigration Service to carry out the deportation immediately following the conviction.

Adegboyega was arrested in 2023 at Beat Zero, an unapproved entry point near the Aflao border, while riding as a passenger on a motorcycle. Customs officers who conducted a search found large bundles of currency suspected to be fake—CFA francs totalling over CFA 80 million and Nigerian naira amounting to N101,500.

According to ASP Isaac Anquandah, the suspect admitted to knowingly transporting counterfeit currency and claimed he received the forged notes from a man named Alhaji Saibu in Nigeria. He said he was acting under instructions from a figure known as Alhaji Dials, believed to be based in Côte d’Ivoire.

The police also confirmed that Adegboyega had entered Ghana with counterfeit currency on a previous occasion. On this trip, he said he was supposed to deliver the money to a contact in Abobo, Ivory Coast.

The court found him guilty on two counts of possessing forged notes, violating Ghana’s Currency Act of 1964, and one count of illegal entry. For the currency offense, he was fined 250 penalty units (GH¢3,000) or, in default, a two-year prison sentence with hard labour. For unlawful entry, he was fined an additional 120 penalty units (GH¢1,440), with a further two-year sentence in default.

The court ruled that the sentences would run concurrently, meaning a maximum of two years if the fines remain unpaid.

Authorities said the counterfeit money would be sent to the Bank of Ghana for verification.

The Ghana Revenue Authority also confirmed that the seized CFA notes had identical serial numbers, deepening suspicions about their authenticity.