A 37 year old man will leave to regret the day he met a courageous female mobile money agent who turned the streets of Nyimba into chaos yesterday after he showed up at her booth trying to deposit counterfeit banknotes which looked all fresh and crispy like they had just been withdrawn from the country’s central bank.
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The suspect, 37 year old Bernard Lungu of an unknown location had strutted into Nyimba town earlier in the day, moving between mobile money booths depositing fake cash and even telling mobile money agents to ‘keep change.’
Eastern Province police commissioner Robertson Mweemba told Kalemba that Lungu first attempted to deposit K5,000 in counterfeit K200 notes in Katente Compound, with an agent named Kezias Lungu and moved to Airstrip Compound where he tried to offload K10,000 at Getrude Kasoka’s booth.
All the while, Bernard hoped no one would notice that his notes were faker than a politician’s smile during campaign period.
Feeling emboldened by his previous ‘success,’ Bernard strutted into Samora 2 Compound, ready to make yet another deposit of K5,000 in fake K200 notes.
But this time, fate intervened in the form of a sharp eyed female mobile money agent, whose instincts were as precise as a woman being cheated on by her Lusaka ‘mario’ man.
The female agent quickly counted the notes and immediately realised that Bernard had brought the capital city of dubious acts, Matero, to Nyimba.
And so, with her Esther Phiri skills and Graphael Musamba tactics, the female agent quickly locked the man inside the booth to prevent him from fleeing the scene and sprinting away like a certain male bleached Kabwata hairdresser who in 2022 unleashed his Usain Bolt skills in the streets of Kabwata.
After seeing that incident unfolding, residents poured in, curious to see the man who thought he could charm Nyimba with counterfeit Kwacha and helped carry him to Nyimba Police Station like a bag of smuggled mealie meal in Ndola.
Some were heard shouting, “apangisa ma Kwacha yaboza! (He’s been ‘manufacturing’ fake money!)” as Bernard was frog marched toward the authorities.
Police later confirmed that, upon searching Bernard, they recovered an additional K1,200 in counterfeit K200 notes, bringing the total fake fortune in his possession to K16,200.
“The denomination of fake counterfeit money were seized awaiting bank examination analysis. The suspect remains detained in police custody,” said Mweemba.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, August 19, 2025
