Burkina Faso: Police Dismantle Counterfeit Currency Gang Operating From Prison

Authorities in Burkina Faso have apprehended several prisoners and their accomplices involved in currency counterfeiting. This was revealed when the alleged criminals were paraded before the press in Ouagadougou on Monday.

This comes four days after Burkina Faso’s military leader Capt. Ibrahim Traore said he has evidence of destabilisation orchestrated against his country by France, and supported by Benin and Cotê D’Ivoire.

According to reports, the criminal gang operated with masterminds at the Ouagadougou House of Arrest and Correction (MACO).

From within MACO, they coordinated with outside accomplices to produce counterfeit foreign and local banknotes, intending to deceive citizens into believing the fake notes were accurate.

The Gendarmerie (police) initially apprehended a member of the gang, which led to the dismantling of a network of four alleged criminals. Two of the masterminds are currently incarcerated at MACO, while two others are on the run.

At present, we have two in custody, two who are residents of the remand and correctional facility, and two who are on the run, said Lieutenant Bagré Justin, Commander of the Research Section of the Ouaga Gendarmerie.

The suspects were caught with materials capable of producing counterfeit notes worth 7 billion CFA francs. They face charges of criminal association, counterfeiting, fraud, money laundering in an organised gang, and illegal possession of weapons of war.

It will be recalled that West Africa Weekly earlier reported that Mali, a member of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a confederation which Niger and Burkina Faso are also part of, recently accused the French government of attempting to destabilise the country’s economy by injecting counterfeit CFA franc notes into circulation.

According to Mali’s transitional President, Colonel Assimi Goïta, this was one of several destabilisation attempts Mali has suffered at the hands of the French government since the 2021 coup d’état that ousted the French-aligned former President Bah N’daw.

It will be recalled that after the coup, Goïta’s junta also broke off military relations with France in 2022, after which closer ties were developed with the Russian military.

While Goïta accuses the French government of destabilising the country’s economy, it is worth recalling that France is known to have previously carried out a similar covert destabilisation plot against one of its erstwhile African colonies following a diplomatic dispute.

The infamous ‘Operation Persil‘ of 1960 was a French intelligence-led destabilisation operation in Guinea, which caused hyperinflation in the newly independent country by flooding it with counterfeit Guinean franc notes printed in Senegal and smuggled into the country following the Ahmed Sékou Touré administration’s decision to launch a Guinean central bank and withdraw from the French-backed CFA currency union.

It is now worthy to recall that Burkina Faso, in 2023, decided to end its military relations with France, while embracing alliance with the Russian military.

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