Cross-border cattle rustler busted

An international cattle rustler who combines his cattle stealing with armed robbery and car snatching, and maintains rings in Ghana, Burkina Faso as well as his country of residence, Republic du Cote d’Ivoire (RCI), has landed in the hands of the Ghana branch of Interpol in Accra.

Amadu Bello, the Burkina-born bandit was arrested at Gbao, a village in the Wenchi West constituency of the Brong Ahafo Region where he had reportedly smuggled a herd of 37 cattle from Bondoukou, in Cote d’Ivoire. On his way into the grips of the law, he and his band, armed with sophisticated rifles engaged the wardens of the Bui game Reserve, near Wenchi, in a fierce exchange of fire.

Chronicle’s information is that three weeks earlier, the foreigner successfully crossed the Western border, through the game with two armed Ghanaian policemen guarding him and his booty.

Such are Amadu Bello’s influence and connections that even on the latest raid that fatefully landed him in trouble, he was able to get the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Wenchi, Mr Joe Danquah, to fight in his corner.

According to a game officer at Bui, two policemen were sent down from Wenchi with a note, purported to have been written by the Wenchi Divisional Commander of Police on the orders of the DCE. The order was to the effect that the cattle should be sent to Wenchi for onward transfer to the DCE for Kintampo for further transfer to the Northern Region.

The alibi was that the impounded cattle were not from Cote d’Ivoire but from Burkina Faso and Government directive was that they must be returned through the North.

To top it all, Bello succeeded in branding the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr Asiedu Nketia, a cow thief and was in the process of hauling him before a Wenchi circuit tribunal before the truth unfolded and Interpol called for the relevant dockets.

Asiedu Nketia, like many Wenchi citizens, has extended family links in Cote d’Ivoire. In April, this year, he and his brother, Stephen K. Badu, attended the funeral of one of their family members who had died at Bondoukou, capital of Bondoukou Province, in the RCI. There, they were told by a cousin of theirs who is also the mayor of the municipality, Monsieur Koukou Dapaah, that a herd of 37 cattle belonging to the family had disappeared.

Stephen Badu said Amadu Bello, an established notorious armed robber who had jumped bail in that country in respect of a car theft, cattle rustling and murder was mentioned as the prime suspect. Banda Gbao in Wenchi-West, Ghana, was where Bello was suspected to be hiding and launching his nocturnal armed raids on the border towns.

So back in Ghana, the family began a frantic search using a pick-up truck belonging to Asiedu Nketia who is MP for Wenchi-West. “After going round for about two weeks, we were able to identify Amadu Bello at Gbao. When we posed as people looking for a cow for a funeral, he assured us that he had cows but they were all tethered in the bush so he could only serve us during the night,” Badu recalled.

After using elaborate diplomacy and tricks, Badu and his scouts got Bello to admit that he knew the whereabouts of the 37 cattle. But he “demanded an amount of ?1 million before he would show us where they were.”

Later, information gathered led the search team to the Bui Reserve to learn of the encounters the wardens had had with Bello, the cattle he had paraded through the forest and people he had allegedly killed on his way to getting his stolen animals and cars onto the Ghanaian market some time ago.

“When we eventually, found our cattle, we took them away in our pick-up parading through the towns to see who would claim ownership so we could cause his arrest for stealing all the cattle,” Badu stated.

Badu’s decoy did not work immediately, rather Bello caused the arrest of one Babangida first for “leading some strangers to steal his cow.” Quickly, the Nketia family caused his arrest by the Wenchi police.

When contacted, the DCE said when the MP’s car with registration number GT 9230 D was found to be carrying the ‘lost’ cow, the ‘owner’, Bello, followed it until it parked at the MP’s house. Then he caused the arrest of one Braimah who was driving the vehicle. Chief Superintendent Ofosu Mensah Gyeabour, commander of the Wenchi police division confirmed that Bello had reported the MP as having stolen his cow.

In a telegram report received from Interpol, Abidjan, on request, the Ivorian police described Bello as a hardened thief wanted in Bondoukou for various crimes and jumping of bail. Interpol, Accra, on Monday night confirmed the story and added that Bello had been handed over to them from Wenchi. All the necessary paperwork would be concluded on Tuesday, to extradite him to face prosecution in Cote d’Ivoire, Interpol said. But such names as ‘Sea Boy’ and ‘Fire’ with whom he allegedly operates remain underground in Ghana.