3 recruitment fraudsters busted

The police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has identified the three suspects believed to be behind the recent police recruitment fraud.

The suspects, according to COP Prosper Kwame Agblor, Director General in-charge of CID, are Kwabena Asare aka Yusif Fuseine, 36-year-old labourer working on CID headquarters buildings in Accra; Baba Dramani, 31 and Charles Yaw Asiamah, 44.

They were arrested at Amamoley on June 18, 2015, following a complaint by one of their victims. So far, 15 of their victims have popped up.

Items including trunks, chop boxes, mattresses, buckets, cutlasses, pillows and suitcases belonging to the victims and being kept by the suspects, were retrieved by the police.

Briefing the media, COP Prosper Agblor said Kwabena Asare Mensah, Baba Dramani and Charles Yaw Asaimah were all living at Amamoley, a village near Ofankor in the Greater Accra Region.

In October 2014, Kwabena Asare, who was then working as a labourer on a building project at the police headquarters, allegedly started peddling false information that he had contacts at the headquarters and that he was capable of getting interested persons enlisted into the Ghana Police Service.

Kwabena Asare purportedly demanded and obtained from each of the unsuspecting victims, GHc2,500 to have them recruited into the Police Service.

Some of the victims, the CID boss disclosed, paid the said amount into account numbers 904005971572 and 0240012264151 at Stanbic Bank and account number 250556738218 at Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited, while others made money transfers through GCB Express and MTN Mobile Money.

Some of the victims also met Kwabena Asare personally and paid the money to him either in his house at Amamoley or at Akroma drinking spot at Ofankor barrier.

Asare allegedly provided victims with forged appointment letters dated May 9, 2015 to report for training and the letters were said to have been signed by one DCOP Kwaku Apraku.

According to COP Agblor, among the officer corps of the service, there is no senior police officer by name DCOP Kwaku Apraku.

He noted that the forged letter directed the victims to report at the police training school on June 3, 2015 to be conveyed to Kumasi where they would be trained.

The Director General said that investigations established by the police indicated that Charles Yaw Asiamah always met the victims at Ofankor and led them to Kwabena Asare at Amamoley where the payments were made.

On June 5, 2015, upon persistent pressure from the victims, all the three suspects met the 15 victims at Amamoley and assured them that they would be conveyed to Kumasi to start training on June 11, 2015.

Kwabena Asare then issued them with prospectus and again made them deposit the items that they had brought with Baba Dramani.

On June 18, 2015, when the time given to the victims had elapsed, one of the victims, out of frustration, reported the matter to the police and the suspects were arrested.