Top cop arrested for car fraud

A top police officer stationed at the Airport District in Accra, Superintendent Felix Agbenyegah Anyidoho, who has been arrested, is facing administrative enquiry for allegedly engaging in fraudulent activities.

Superintendent Anyidoho, the Crime Officer at the Airport Police Station, was said to have been handcuffed alongside a junior colleague of his and taken to the Police Headquarters last Thursday.

His arrest followed incessant complaints to the Police Administration by some business people, especially vehicle dealers, that he was using his office to perpetrate fraud and theft.

In one of such cases, he purportedly collected a 2013 Toyota Highlander from a car dealer under the pretext of buying it but vanished with the vehicle.

He reportedly used his influence to block any attempt to investigate him.

Supt. Anyidoho reportedly issued dud cheques on different occasions to the complainant, refused to release the vehicle when the owner said he was no longer interested in the deal and succeeded in preventing investigations into the case.

Even petitions the complainant sent to the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) Unit of the Ghana Police Service and other follow-ups to the Police Headquarters fell on deaf ears, leaving the complainant Ernest Asare, a car dealer, frustrated.

Narrating his ordeal to DAILY GUIDE, the complainant said about three months ago, a lady whose name he gave as Araba visited his garage near the Achimota overhead bridge in Accra and expressed interest in buying a Toyota Corolla saloon car from him.

“The lady then said her boyfriend- Supt. Anyidoho works at the Airport Police Station and had asked us to accompany her with the car to the station for inspection,” Mr Ernest Asare narrated.

He said, “On our way to the Airport Police Station, the lady made a call to the police officer to the effect that we were on our way to the place and the policeman redirected us to the Polo Ground which is near the station and we met him there.”

Mr Asare said the officer then requested for another vehicle and he mentioned the Toyota Highlander (2013 model) to him which was yet to be cleared from the port.

“Mr. Anyidoho said he wanted to buy the yet-to-be-cleared Highlander and immediately asked us to send the Corolla back to the garage, which we obliged,” the complainant posited.

He said 11 days later he called the police chief to inform him that the Highlander had been cleared from the port, adding that the “police chief asked us to send him pictures of the vehicle.”

The complainant said the crime officer then asked them to meet him at the Mile 7 Police Station at Achimota where he (complainant) said Mr. Anyidoho resides.

“On June 13, 2016, we went to the Mile 7 Police Station and met him where he took possession of the car and handed it over to his colleague Mile 7 crime officer and said he would ask his auto mechanic to come over and inspect the vehicle,” Mr Asare disclosed.

He said around 5pm the same day, Mr. Anyidoho telephoned him and said he was going to purchase the vehicle and asked them to meet him in his office at the Airport by 9am the following day.

“We met the officer in his office the next day where we agreed on the price at GH¢150,000 and he immediately issued two Stanbic Bank cheques in GH¢80,000 to be cashed on 24/06/16 and GH¢70,000 to be cashed on 29/07/16.”

He said the first cheque bounced so the officer called them and pleaded with them and issued another set of cheques to be cashed at the UBA Bank.

He said the UBA cheques were GH¢50,000 to be cashed on 06/07/16 and GH¢30,000 meant to be cashed on 12/07/16 but the first cheque again bounced.

Mr Asare claimed that the officer is operating a car stealing syndicate that clones chassis numbers of vehicles to prepare fresh documents and use them to perpetrate fraud.

The complainant also said that at one point Mr. Anyidoho brought his in-laws from Kumasi to plead on his behalf to give him until July 30, 2016 to pay the money but reneged on the promise.

When DAILY GUIDE contacted the officer early last week, he promised to pay the money by last Saturday but the complainant said it had not been paid yet.