Mrs. Patience Friday, a middle-aged woman who deals in foodstuff at Karshi market, opened her shop last Wednesday, hoping for a bright day of sales ahead of the yuletide season. Her joy was ignited when the very first customers to visit her shop, bought bags of rice worth thousands of naira. As the buyers disappeared with the goods, the money they gave her turned into lower naira denominations, minutes after she was paid.
Within a twinkle of an eye, trader and the buyers had transacted business worth N117,000 quite early in the day.
Mrs. Friday told Weekly Trust that the dupes paid her the N117,000 in N1,000 domination, adding that a few minutes after they had loaded the bags of rice and the buyer disappeared, the same money turned into N100 notes.
“When they paid me the money, I counted it and it was exactly N117, 000. The money was in N1,000 notes and I put it in my handbag, which I dropped in the store. I loaded for them the bags of rice they bought from me in the vehicle they brought and they drove off.
“As soon as they left, I now went back to where I dropped the money in my bag to take it to a safer place. Alas, when I opened my bag, what I saw, were 115 leaves of N100 notes and two N1,000 notes. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I searched my bag greedily, emptied the contents, thinking the actual money is still hiding inside. But there was none. I screamed, and my neighbors with shops around came and when I told them, they immediately went after the dupes, but they had disappeared into thin air,” Mrs. Friday lamented.
Weekly Trust gathered that Karshi market, with the capacity of about 200 shops, was shaken for the entire day, as the people, who were obviously taken by surprise remained stunned.
Elder sister of the victim, Mrs. Florence Ahole, who also sells in another part of the same market confirmed the incident, saying her sister’s loud screams attracted her and she rushed to the her place only to discover that some dupes had neatly made away with her bags of rice amounting to N117,000.
“She showed me the money and explained what happened. The money she showed me were old N100 notes and two N1,000 notes. She was even afraid to keep the money anymore, least it mixes up with other monies and become something else. Since her husband travelled the previous day, I took the money to my house to safeguard it. I believe God will console and compensate my sister, let her not put it in mind,” Mrs. Ahole advised.
The victim’s son, Rich Friday, said the dupes who came in a Golf 3 car, also disappeared through the Karshi-Nyanya road.
“I was in the shop with my mother and when we discovered that they had duped her, we rushed to the Divisional Police headquarters in Karshi and complained, so that the dupes could be chased or blocked. But the police said the criminals have disappeared and there is nothing they can do,” Rich claimed.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Karshi division, Mohammed Rabiu told Weekly Trust on phone that they are not aware of the incident, as no report was lodged with the police over the matter, wondering why the victim failed to draw the attention of security agents.
Alhaji Yakubu Kadarko, Karshi market supervisor, who also confirmed the incident said, his attention was drawn to it between 8 and 9am on the said day, when the whole market trooped to the shop to know what happened.
He advised traders in the market to be very careful, especially these days of Christmas and check thoroughly, strange faces coming to make bulk purchases to avoid a repeat of such incident. “But the victim has not officially reported to us, anyway,” he added.
Another eye witness, Tanko Mamman, said he came to the office at the time the incident had just happened. “I went and discovered it was true and I sympathized with her, God should give her the heart to bear the loss and also, find a way of compensating her,” Mamman said.
A man who simply identified himself as Peter, a motorcycle mechanic who operates in the market, said the incident is the first of its kind in the market, and advised buyers and sellers to be more vigilant this season.
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