A nine-member gang suspected to be behind the sale of fake gold bars to foreigners and swindling them of huge sums of money, has been busted by the Mile Seven Police in Accra. The nine suspects, comprise five Nigerians and four Ghanaians.
The suspected fraudsters were arrested after they allegedly defrauded two Iranian tourists of $3,000 on the pretext of selling gold bars to the tourists.
The police gave the names of the suspects as Kofi Agyeman, 59; Patrick Asuako, 57; Frank Agyei Twum, 57 and Nelson Amenyo, 54 all Ghanaians.
The rest who are Nigerians are Isaac Banabe, 40; Kelvin Ekeke, 27; Promise Precious, 20; Maxwell Dickson, 30, and Felix Anthony, 47.
Police report
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Nana Osabarima Oware Asare Pinkron III, said at about 5:30 p.m. on June 7, 2017, two Iranian nationals, who identified themselves as Sajjad Ghafarian and Yadzi Foameirz, reported to the police that they were tourists in Ghana who had been defrauded over a gold deal.
He said they told the police that a man who identified himself as Edward Sanni Olalekan had approached them over some gold bars for sale and they had expressed interest.
According to the Accra Regional Commander, Olalekan led the Iranians to a house at Tantra Hill to buy the gold from four men, who are yet to be identified.
After inspecting the gold bars, the Iranians claimed they paid $3,000 and were handed a gold-like metal.
They said when they got to their hotel and tested the bars they found out to their surprise that they had been swindled as the metals were just coated with gold paint.
Arrest
After showing the fake gold bars to the police, the Mile Seven Police led them on June 8, 2017 to the house where the Iranians had met the gang and bought the fake gold bars but the house was locked and deserted.
After mounting surveillance on the house, the police undertook another unannounced operation and moved to the house again where they arrested the nine suspects.
During the operation, the police recovered $2,300 suspected to be part of the money taken from the Iranians, two Toshiba laptops, one printer, and four suspected fake gold bars.
Other items retrieved included one Baofeng Motorola set, one keyboard and one D-link modem.
The suspects have since been charged for fraud while investigations continue with the police making efforts to arrest Olalekan and the four men who sold the fake gold bars to the Iranians.
