Man arrested for passport fraud

Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have arrested a 52-year-old man, Yaw Wireko, believed to be member of a fake passports processing group.
Fake Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) foil receipts, suspected fake birth certificates, fake letters of introduction from various institutions and fake stamps and recommendation letters by the Tema Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) were retrieved from the suspect.
The suspect and his accomplices were said to be collecting between GH¢100 (¢1 million) and GH¢150 (¢1.5 million) from their victims before processing their forms.
The Deputy Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ken Yeboah, told newsmen yesterday that following a complaint by the Director of Passports, Mr Sylvester Parker-Allotey, that he had detected fake documents accompanying passport application forms, the matter was referred to the Documentation and Visa Fraud Unit of the CID for further investigations.
He said the modus operandi of the group was to ask prospective passport seekers to buy and return the filled forms to the group for processing.
In some cases, he said, the group filled out the forms for the applicants.
According to ACP Yeboah, the group attached the fake CAGD foil receipt to the application form, with a letter of introduction from an institution and the passport form embossed with a fake stamp of the Tema Commander of the GIS, as well as a recommendation from the commander for the processing and issuance of the passport to the applicant.
He said during the investigations, the police arrested Ben Ofosu Barimah, 25, who in turn mentioned Ayi Bruce, 43, as the person who processed the documents.
ACP Yeboah said upon the arrest of Bruce, he also mentioned Yaw Wireko as the originator of the documents.
He said the police arranged a meeting between Bruce and Wireko at the Koforidua Peugeot Station in Accra while the police kept surveillance.
According to him, as soon as Wireko spotted the plainclothes policemen, he took to his heels but he was pursued to the Orion Cinema where he was arrested.
ACP Yeboah said Wireko had refused to tell the police the source of the forged receipts, stamps and other documents.
He appealed to prospective passport seekers to endeavour to avoid using middlemen to acquire passports, since the practice could lead them into trouble.