Two dead men defrauded

The Zongo District police in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, are holding a 30-year-old man for allegedly defrauding two bereaved Muslim families of

GHc 9,600 in what the police see as a new modus operandi by criminals to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

Sadat Mohammed, a teacher, who claimed to be a native of Bawku in the Upper East Region but resides at Tafo Nhyiaeso in Kumasi, purportedly defrauded the bereaved families after convincing them that their relatives owed him before they died.

He is being accused of duping the family of one Gariba of GHc 4,900 and the family of Alhaji Halidu Sulemana, 57, who was shot dead by armed robbers in his house at Adiembra TUC, Kumasi, of GHc 4,700.

The Zongo District police commander, Superintendent Rev. Dr. Nyamkeye Adane-Ameyaw, who briefed DAILY GUIDE on the matter, said the suspect’s posthumous debt claims ought to be thoroughly investigated for the law to deal with him.

He said several people might have suffered a similar fate and appealed to members of the public to report any such incident to the police for further investigations.

The police boss said on August 6, 2015, one Annatumi Gariba lodged a complaint at the police station that Sadat Mohammed had defrauded his family of GHc 4,900 while mourning the death of their relative.

According to the family, shortly after the demise of their kinsman, Sadat approached them with a claim that the departed relative owed him that amount of money being the cost of seven Dell laptop computers he (Sadat Mohammed) had supplied him (deceased) for sale.

After paying the money to him, the family became suspicious and started investigating Sadat’s claim which led them to a witness in the case, Adu Poku Ernest, a teacher at Happy International School at Tafo Nhyiaeso in Kumasi.

Police invited Adu Poku Ernest and in his statement, admitted being approached by the suspect to assist him to retrieve the money from the family. The witness said he was initially reluctant to offer his support until the suspect assured him that there was nothing fraudulent in his claim.

Ernest said he had no idea about Sadat Mohammed’s alleged dishonesty until his (Gariba’s) family alerted him that the claim might not be genuine.

In Alhaji Halidu Sulemana’s family’s case, Sadat allegedly deceived the members into believing that he had given GHc 4,700 to their relative to purchase for him unspecified number of tricycles prior to his death.

Superintendent Rev. Dr. Nyamkeye Adane-Ameyaw said Sadat admitted the offence and pleaded with the police for mercy.