Two teenagers have been arrested by police in Mwanza for being found in possession of three counterfeit K1, 000 banknotes.

Officer-In-Charge for Mwanza police, Ellobium Banda identified the two as Jimmy Keniyasi, 18, of Chikolosa Village in Traditional Authority Kanduku in the district and Amos Masiye, 18, of Maliyela Village, T/A Njema in Mulanje.

He said the two were arrested at Mwanza trading centre following a search after a businessman they had transacted business with the previous night had alerted police about the development.

The Officer-In-Charge explained that Keniyasi and Masiye had used the fake notes on Wednesday night to buy groceries from a shop owned by John Paulo who discovered later the following day that they were not authentic.

“Police, through a search arrested the two in a rest house, and when asked they said they got the fake money from Zobue in Mozambique where they went to sell second hand clothes,” said Banda.

He said the two will appear before court soon to answer the charge of being found in possession of counterfeit bank notes which attracts a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment with hard labour if convicted.

The three fake K1, 000 bank notes bear the same serial number of AB6246481.

Meanwhile, the Police is warning the public to check security features on the new bank notes before accepting them.