Kidnapping rescue: No Canadian help provided; no ransom paid – Government

The government of Ghana has denied claims that it received support from the Canadian government in rescuing Ms Lauren Patricia Catherine Tilley, 19; and Bailey Jordan Chitty, 20; the two Canadians who were kidnapped for a week in Ghana’s Ashanti Region.

Ghana’s Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said at a press conference on Wednesday, 12 June 2019 in Accra that: “There was no support from foreigners in rescuing the girls.”

“The operation involved the CID of the Ghana Police Service, the Bureau of National Investigations, the Special Weapons and Tactics Unit of the National Security Council and the Defence Intelligence. No foreign assets were involved in the operation.”

He further cautioned the general public to be measured in their public utterances on the matter, since the police are still searching for the perpetrators of the other kidnapping cases.

“We should be measured in our public utterances in this development because the security is embarking on an exercise to rescue the others who had been kidnapped. If we go public on this, it will rather forearm the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

"We should be circumspect on our reportage in order not to compromise the intelligence gathering."

Mr Oppong Nkrumah also said no ransom whatsoever was paid to the kidnappers by the government of Ghana or the security agencies.

The two Canadian women were freed in the early hours of Wednesday, 12 June 2019 at Sawaba, Kumasi.

They are safe and sound.

They were not abused in any way.