Fake Military Officer Busted

A 27-year-old unemployed man, Sadat Seidu who claimed to be a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the army and was seeking financial assistance from the Military High Command due to an ailment, has been busted by the Teshie District Police command.

The suspect, using the name Lt. Col. Isaac Essel, (rtd) allegedly, forged several documents to buttress his claims when he officially wrote a letter to the Commander of the Teshie Military Academy Training School last month, September.

Upon investigations by the military command, Sadat was arrested and handed over to the police to be investigated.

Confirming the story to DAILY GUIDE, Teshie District Police Commander Superintendent Samuel Tibil Punobyin, told DAILY GUIDE that the suspect was a student of GIMPA and had been a barracks boy when the father was serving in Ghana Army.

On September 27, 2012, suspect Sadat Seidu wrote a letter to the commanding officer claiming to be a retired Lt. Col. Isaac Essel who was suffering from mass stroke; hence, he needed financial assistance from his command.

The military command was baffled by the report received and consequently went through their records to find out who the said retired Lieutenant Colonel was.

No retired military officer bore that name and so the military command became suspicious and consequently called the suspect on phone to come for the money on October 3, 2012.

When the suspect got to the military command, he was arrested and handed over to the police.

During investigations, it came to light that his real name was Sadat Seidu, a native of Tamale.

A further search conducted in his room revealed series of forged documents including certificates from different schools and that of University of Ghana and university of CapeCoast.

Fake identity cards indicating the suspect also worked with the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the National Security Council and voter’s ID cards were found.

In his caution statement, suspect admitted having forged those documents by designing them himself to enable him solicit funds from people.

Suspect Sadat has since appeared in an Accra Circuit Court and has been remanded into police custody to re-appear on October 16, 2012.