Guinean herbalist charged for fraud

Camara Mory, a 36-year-old Guinean national and herbalist on Tuesday appeared before Takoradi Circuit Court “B” for allegedly conspiring to commit crime and defrauding by false pretence.

He pleaded not guilty and was remanded by the court to re-appear on March 27.

Yves, a Cameroonian, who is jointly charged with him is on the run.

Prosecuting, Police Inspector Seth Ahelegbe said on February 17, this year, the accused persons who live in Accra approached Robert Obeng a mobile phone dealer at Takoradi with mobile phone accessories.

He said the accused persons told Obeng that they brought the accessories to sell to somebody who they could not trace and asked Obeng to assist them trace him.

Inspector Ahelegbe said Obeng developed interest in the accessories and took down their contact to enable him contact them at Kojokrom where he lived.

He said Obeng bargained the items with the accused persons and agreed on the price of GHc4,000.00.

The prosecutor said Obeng paid the amount to the accused persons and demanded the items which the accused persons alleged they had kept at a guest house at Twabewu.

He said unknown to Obeng, the accused persons had on them pieces of paper cut in currency note denominations concealed in a black polythene bag.

Inspector Ahelegbe said on the receipt of the money, Mory counted it and tied it in a black polythene bag in the same way as the papers.

He said Mory sent Yves to the guest house for the items but did not return for hours and Mory, on the pretext of going to call Yves, secretly swapped the papers with the money.

Inspector Ahelegbe said Mory gave the papers to obeng as his money and asked him to keep them until he came back with the items and Yves.

He said Mory took the original money away and never returned.

Inspector Ahelegbe said after waiting for a while without hearing from the accused persons, Obeng left for the house with the parcel in the company of a friend Isaac Fynn who was with him.

He said when they opened the polythene bag, they found papers instead of money and all efforts to trace the accused persons proved futile.

Inspector Ahelegbe said a report was made to the Police and with the help of La Police, Mory was arrested in Accra on Februrary 29; during a search, an amount of GHc1,550.00, US$100, three mobile phones and travelling documents were retrieved.

He said Mory was handed over to the Kojokrom Police together with the items found on him and was charged after further investigations.