Immigration officials nab Nigerian Fraudster

Accra, July 2, GNA - Ghana Immigration officials have arrested a 29-year-old Nigerian, Richard Austin Chidi Ebere, who lured two Vietnamese into Ghana and attempted to dupe them of a further 13,000 dollars after collecting various sums from them previously. Ebere who uses a Ghanaian Passport bearing his picture with the name Azu Annan, had been operating in the country for the past three years from a rented four-bedroom house at Taifa, which had only a students' mattress.

Briefing the media, Mr Moses Kwabena Gyamfi, Acting Deputy Director of Operations at the GIS, said investigations revealed that Ebere and his accomplices started communicating with the Vietnamese in March this year, when he claimed to be a businessman with a company known as 'Achilarbi Mines Limited'.

He said Ebere got the Vietnamese into Ghana and hired a lady to pick them up at the Airport to Wangara Hotel in Accra where they gave her 13,000 dollars for Ebere.

However the lady panicked and informed the hotel authorities, who took custody of the money and informed the Immigration Service, leading to the arrest of Ebere.

Mr Gyamfi said investigations so far with the Vietnamese indicated that they had so far transferred 100,000 dollars to Ebere and his gang. He said Ebere claimed he was acting on behalf of the Millennium Challenge Authority and that he had close links with Finance Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu.

Mr Gyamfi said Ebere dubiously set up a meeting at Maglab Hotel in Accra where some people, posing as government officials, attended and that two contracts were signed at the meeting. The contracts covered a seven-million-dollar deal for the supply of gold by Ebere's company and the supply of computer desks to the Millennium Challenge Authority. Mr Gyamfi said documents sent to the Vietnamese by Ebere and his accomplices included a fake bio-data page of Mr Baah-Wiredu's passport, his ministerial identity card and pictures showing him signing a contract.

Others are a fake document from the Millennium Development Authority, a fake clearance/confirmation by the Ghana Police Service and a Ghana Tender Board document supposedly issued from the Office of the President.

Mr Gyamfi warned the public on the operation of fraudsters, especially in forging of official documents, and cautioned foreigners wishing to do business in Ghana to be wary of transactions over the internet. "We particularly wish to caution about entry Visas supposed to have been issued by the GIS. We appeal to the Foreign Missions in Ghana to caution their citizens to be cautious about the mouth-watering deals in Ghana."

Mr Gyamfi advised landlords to be careful when renting out their properties to foreigners, adding that when in doubt they could cross-check with the Immigration Service. He tasked hotels and other hospitality service providers to furnish the GIS with particulars of foreigners lodging with them in other to help stem the crime wave. He also urged the banks to clear with the Service before opening account for foreigners, adding that with the emerging oil industry, the country would receive an influx of foreigners and fraudsters.