Monday, June 29, 2009

Police step up fight against armed robbers

Page 20: Daily Graphic, June 29, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Operations Department of the Ghana Police Service has stepped up its fight against armed robbery and residential crimes with the setting up of tent cities in selected residential areas.
An initiative of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, the tent cities are to serve as a first point of call by residents to relay information on suspected criminal activities or suspicious characters within those areas.
Each of the tent cities will be provided with a telephone number to serve the communities and reduce time of response to distress calls.
Already the tent cities have been mounted at East Legon, Achimota Golf Club and Dzorwulu while other areas such as Taifa, Dansoman, Dome Pillar II and Awoshie were being considered depending on the co-operation of the residents to the citing of the cities there.
The Director of Operations, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Richmond Nii Boi-Bi-Boi, told the Daily Graphic that the officers on duty at the tent cities would relay any information to the patrol teams within their vicinities.
He said members of the communities in which the tent cities would be located should visit the tent cities to interact with the personnel and share relevant information with them.
As part of the tent cities initiative, special day patrol exercises have been started to beef up security presence especially in crime prone areas.
In the medium term, a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team of police personnel are being trained to perform high-risk operations that are beyond the abilities of regular officers, including serving high-risk arrest warrants, barricading suspects, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, and engaging heavily-armed criminals among other duties.
SWAT teams are often equipped with special firearms including assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for snipers.
They have special equipment including heavy body armour, entry tools, armoured vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers inside an enclosed structure.
A fleet of vehicles have also been released to the police by the National Security Council Secretariat to augment the capacity of the security agencies to combat armed robbery.
There is also intelligence sharing between the police and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to help build a crime database.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi said the tent cities would serve as local rallying points for police operations especially in the night where the police/military patrol team might not be immediately available.
He said those who patronised the tents would be provided with security tips on how to protect themselves and their property against armed robbery.
He said the tent city idea would be started in Accra with the view of spreading it out to other communities.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi appealed to the communities in which the tent cities would be cited to co-operate with the personnel and not to see their presence as intimidatory, adding that “we are targeting criminals and not innocent people”.
He said as part of their duties, the personnel would be available to provide security talks to churches and schools in the vicinities in which they are located.
He said those on the specialised day patrols would be visiting houses and work places to interact with those they meet to discuss their security concerns.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi said the confidentiality of informants were guaranteed and urged any informant whose identity was blown by any police officer to call on the District, Divisional or Regional Commanders to lodge a complaint against the said officer.

Police grab six armed robbers

Front Page: Daily Graphic, June 29, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A SWIFT response by the police to a distress call from the Goil Filling Station at Tantra Hill in Accra yesterday led to the arrest of six armed robbers who had attacked the filling station about 8 a.m.
Three of the robbers were arrested in the melee of the robbery.
They are Emmanuel Dawutey, a mason who was arrested in a bush with a pump action gun and a pistol, Isaac Cobbinah, 24, a bicycle repairer, and Selorm Hafe, 24, a labourer.
Three others, including a security man at the filling station, were later arrested in their homes at Tantra Hill.
They are John Salifu, the security man, Frank Sabree, 24, who is alleged to have mobilised the robbers after Salifu had discussed the robbery of the station with him, and John Atta Ganaah, 32.
Two others, identified only as Rocky and Roger, however, escaped and are believed to have bolted with the money.
The Station Manager of the filling station and the Head of Security there, Mr Patrick Abakah and WOI Jacob Donkor (retd), respectively, who were hit with metals by the robbers, were rushed to the 37 Military Hospital for treatment.
The Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio Atinga, supported by the Director of Operations at the Police Headquarters, ACP Richmond Boi-Bi-Boi, and the Deputy Regional Commander, ACP Christian Yohuno, told newsmen in Accra yesterday that following the receipt of the distress call, the police informed all police day patrol teams about it.
She said the Tesano District Commander, ASP Theodore Hlormenu, and his Mile Seven counterpart, ASP Simon Agbodeka, responded swiftly to the crime scene.
According to her, about six different patrol teams also joined in the chase of the armed robbers.
DCOP Atinga said the arresting team pursued the robbers towards Dome where the robbers’ vehicle ran into a ditch.
That, she said, led to the arrest of Selorm and Isaac, while the others escaped.
She said with the help of residents of Dome Pillar II, Dawutey was arrested in the bush after firing warning shots to keep the police away from arresting him.
She said the police later picked up intelligence that John, the security man at the filling station, who had gone for night duties, relayed the information to the robbers to attack because the station manager and the head of security were counting the sales for the night.

Ghana marks Day Against Drug Abuse

Page 16: Daily Graphic, June 27, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THIS year's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking has been marked, with a call on the government not to be content with successes in the enforcement field, to the neglect of other key sectors of the drug war.
The Chief Psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health, Dr Akwasi Osei, who made the call in a keynote address, said effective drug control had three components, namely, law enforcement, demand reduction and the effective treatment and rehabilitation of people indulging in drug abuse.
The celebration, which was on the theme, "Do Drugs Control Your Life? Illicit Drug Trafficking", attracted a large audience of students to the Holy Gardens in Accra where it was held.
To effectively address the challenges of the drug menace, Dr Osei reiterated the need for the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) to be raised to that of an independent commission adequately resourced with both human beings and logistics.
He explained that the functional location of the board at the Ministry of the Interior made it impossible for it to execute all those three functions effectively.
He said it was inconceivable for an agency to be given more resources than its sector ministry, hence the need to make the commission independent of any ministry.
"Such a commission will then relate to the respective agencies like the Ministry of the Interior for supply reduction, the Ministry of Health for demand reduction and the research institutes for the research component. The commission will then serve as a co-ordinating body. This is urgent if we are to see our country make any progress towards being on top our drug situation," he stated.
According to Dr Osei, raising the status of NACOB into a commission would also mean modifying the current drug law.
He also recommended the establishment of a National Drug Abuse Centre to become a one-stop shop of all information on drugs in the country, including medical, legal, research findings and any other information relevant to drugs.
He further called for a comprehensive national drug policy to spell out not only the illicit drugs but even which psychoactive drugs to be made available, in what quantities, who could possess, purchase and use them, among others.
He reminded Ghanaians that it had not become difficult to tag a country as a purely producer country, distributor country or transit country and cited Ghana as an example of a country which was becoming a user country.
He noted, for instance, that the Accra Psychiatric Hospital recorded 876 cases of drug use, representing an increase of 70 cases over the previous year’s figure.
Dr Osei said winning the drug war also meant appreciating the fact that drug abuse was an issue of mental health, for which reason the Mental Health Bill must be passed, just as the Tobacco Bill.
He said Ghanaians must remember that tobacco and alcohol were gateway drugs for narcotics and expressed regret that the country did not even have a national alcohol policy.
The Executive Secretary of NACOB, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Robert Ayalingo, in a welcoming address, noted that the magnitude and the rising trend in illicit production, demand for and traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances posed serious threats to the health and welfare of human beings and adversely affected the economic, cultural and political stability of every society.
He said a more worrying situation was the exploitation by drug traffickers of various social groups to traffick in or abuse narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, particularly children who were being used in many parts of the world as drug couriers and consumers.
"In Ghana today, drug abuse has ceased to be an urbanisation issue but a nation-wide canker eating deeper and deeper into the fabric of our society. Drug consumption has become so rampant in almost every educational institution in Ghana, filtering down from tertiary institutions to the junior high schools in the country," he said, adding that "indiscipline at home, in schools, in society are all products of drug abuse".
A former Executive Secretary of NACOB, Colonel Isaac K. Akuoku (retd), who launched the celebration on behalf of the Interior Minister, admonished the youth to stay away from drugs before drugs controlled their lives.
He urged them to stay close to their books, since education offered a much better and fulfilling life.

Friday, June 26, 2009

DRUG BARON GRABBED * In joint effort with the USA and Togo

Front Page: Daily Graphic, June 26, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A COSTA RICAN businessman, described as the baron of the drug trade in West and South Africa, has been picked in a joint effort by anti-narcotic agencies in Ghana, the USA and Togo.
William Zabieh, 49, is said to be the mastermind of the major narcotic landings in Ghana, Togo, Guinea and South Africa over the past seven years and officials in Accra described his arrest as a major breakthrough in the fight against illicit drugs in West Africa.
He was extradited on June 19, 2009 on board a Delta airline flight 167 at the Kotoka International Airport to the United States of America (USA) where he has been indicted by the South New York District Court for possession of and trafficking in tonnes of cocaine between South America and Africa.
Zabieh had been declared wanted after being linked to the transhipment of cocaine from Venezuela to South Africa and West Africa for onward distribution to the USA and Europe.
Before his extradition, eight members of his network, including a Ghanaian, Joseph Addae, and Zabieh’s Director of Operations, Jorge Solano-Cortes, a Colombian, had been extradited to the USA in a similar operation in February this year.
At the point of his arrest, Zabieh was travelling on a fake South African passport.
He and all those extradited earlier had previous drug convictions in the USA and France.
They are currently facing charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, contrary to US Code 846, in a South New York District Court.
The arrest and extradition of members of the drug mogul in Togo and Ghana followed a special operation jointly undertaken by the USA Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the governments of Ghana and Togo, with Ghana’s Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and the National Security Secretariat as the frontrunners.
Exhibits found on Zabieh after his arrest included a video of the entire coastline of Ghana and Togo where it was believed that the ring received the drugs for repackaging and distribution.
Currently security operatives are on the trail of the agents of Zabieh who are responsible for the recruitment of couriers and the distribution chain at the lower levels of transaction.
Although information available to the security agencies indicates that the agents are foreigners, it is suspected that some of them could be of Ghanaian and West African origins, as well as European and South American nationalities who were using fictitious foreign names and passports.
The Executive Secretary of NACOB, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Robert Ayalingo, told the Daily Graphic, when contacted on the issue, that the arrest and subsequent extradition of the suspects was a major breakthrough in fighting illicit drug trafficking in West Africa.
According to him, the collaboration between Ghana and Togo which led to the arrests and extraditions should send a signal to the rest of the drug traffickers that they could no longer use Ghana as a transit point.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Two arrested for conspiracy

Page 54: Daily Graphic, June 25, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
TWO persons, including a driver at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), have been arrested on allegations of conspiracy to commit crime and stealing.
John Kwame Aryeh, the driver at the GIJ, and his friend, Steven Kwaku Nyarko, a tyre dealer, were said to be arrested during the process of removing the new tyres of a vehicle belonging to the GIJ and replacing them with worn-out ones.
The Director of the Organised Crime Unit (OCU) of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Sarfo Agyemang, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that Nyarko visited Aryeh at the GIJ sometime in May this year and informed Aryeh that he (Nyarko) supplied vehicle tyres to a number of government agencies.
He said Nyarko then asked Aryeh to help him get a contract to supply tyres to the GIJ whenever the need arose.
Supt Agyemang said Aryeh then introduced Nyarko to an Assistant Registrar at the institute as a prospective supplier of tyres and batteries to the institute.
He said after a visit to the institute on June 18, 2009, Aryeh requested a witness in the case to agree to a plot to remove the tyres of one of the institute’s buses, with registration number GS 7367 Y and sell them to Nyarko.
He said the witness, after discussing the information with the Assistant Registrar, feigned interest in the deal.
Supt Agyemang said the witness and the accused persons then fixed June 20, 2009 for the execution of the transaction at a filling station at Adabraka.
According to him, the Assistant Registrar then informed the police, who laid ambush at the precincts of the filling station.
He said just as the suspects had brought out the old lorry tyres and were in the process of removing the new tyres on the vehicle, the police arrested them.

Police arrest two robbers

Page 21: Daily Graphic, June 25, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE timely response of the Police to two separate armed robbery incidents has resulted in the arrest of two suspected robbers in Accra and Akyemfo in the Western Region.
The suspects are Alex Asiedu Appiah, 28, who was arrested in Accra while Desmond Adams, 23, was arrested in Enchi in the Western Region.
Appiah, described by the police as one of suspected criminals who had been terrorising residents of Labone and its environs, was arrested after he and other suspects allegedly robbed a woman of nearly GH¢ 2,000 and a mobile phone while Desmond Adams was arrested at Akyemfo after his gang of seven attacked and robbed passengers on board two buses travelling from Kumasi to Takoradi.
Briefing the Daily Graphic on the two separate incidents in Accra yesterday, the Director of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwesi Ofori, said in the case of Appiah, the victim was robbed at knife-point by the suspect and his accomplices.
He said the machinery put in place by the Police Administration to deal swiftly with such cases was applied to trace and apprehend the suspects.
According to him, Appiah was arrested two weeks later while the other suspects were being sought after.
He said the victim’s cellphone and GH¢1,000 had been retrieved from the Appiah.
With regard to the Akyemfo incident, DSP Ofori said two 207 Benz buses with registration numbers, AW 2471 Y and GR 1722 V, were intercepted by the robbers at Akyemfo where they had used logs to block the road at about 1am today.
He said the robbers robbed the passengers of their monies, mobile phones and took over the vehicles driving towards Enchi.
He said following the relaying of information to the police, a team of police personnel led by Lance Corporal Richard Owusu mounted a road barrier near Enchi in anticipation of the arrival of the robbers.
DSP Ofori said on seeing the police barrier, the robbers abandoned the vehicles and took to their heels but the police were able to arrest Desmond Adams, who was carrying GH¢487 and three mobile phones.
He said the police found a short gun on one of the vehicles and had mounted a search for the six other robbers.
DSP Ofori said the Police Administration required the support and co-operation of the public in fighting crime and indicated that the relaying of information on those two crimes resulted in those arrests.
He said the police was determined to fight crime and ensure that crime in the society was reduced to the barest minimum.
He noted that due to measures instituted by the Police Administration, there had been a gradual reduction of criminal activities especially in residential areas to about one or two cases a week.
DSP Ofori explained that although the crime rate had gone down, a single robbery incident created a serious panic and traumatic experiences in the society.
He said it was in the light of that that the Police Administration had instituted serious measures to deal with robberies and called for public co-operation.
He said the Police Information Room could be contacted on 021-773695; 021-773906; 0277-522288 or 0277-522299 and 191 on all networks.

Ex-Salesman in court over GH¢180,000 fraud

Page 3: Daily Graphic, June 25, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A former salesman/private dispatch rider, Dominic Anabiga, who allegedly conspired with the Financial Controller of Qualiplast to steal about GH¢180,000 belonging to the company, has been arrested.
However, the financial controller, Vasu Dev Chatlur, is now at large.
A number of properties believed to have been acquired by Anabiga with the money he allegedly stole have also been recovered.
The properties are two uncompleted buildings at Pokuase, a taxi cab, with registration number GR9818 Z; a Nissan Urvan bus, GR 7571-09; a Honda Motorbike, M-09-GR2672; two Samsung plasma television sets, two Samsung DVD players, two Crown Star television stands, a computer and its accessories, a swivel chair and a scientific calculator.
Two persons, Musa Zakari and Osman Musah, who are the caretakers of the properties have also been arrested.
The Daily Graphic, in its May 25, 2009 issue, published the picture of Anabiga as having been declared wanted by the Organised Crime Unit (OCU) of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.
Briefing the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Director of the OCU, Superintendent Sarfo Agyemang, said on May 12, 2009, the sales manager of the company gave GH¢8,000 to Anabiga to deposit in the company’s account at a bank but the suspect failed to return to work after he had left the premises of the company.
He said the company decided to cross-check with its bankers and it was detected that Anabiga had not deposited the money into the account.
According to Supt Agyemang, further checks revealed that Anabiga had failed to deposit all the money that had been given to him to deposit in the accounts between February 13, 2009 and May 12, 2009.
He said a scrutiny of the pay-in slips showed that Anabiga had stamped the slips with fake bank stamps and also forged a signature claiming it to be that of a bank official and presented them to the company.
He said the financial controller and the sales manager were invited to the OCU to assist in investigations but they were granted police enquiry bail.
Supt Agyemang said Vasu abandoned his post and fled the country but a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
He said investigations later revealed that Anabiga was staying with either Zakari or Musah and that the items believed to have been acquired by him had been given to them for safe keeping.
According to him, Anabiga, Zakari and Musah were later arrested at their hideout at Adukrom in Kumasi on June 2, 2009.
Supt Agyemang said it was also detected that suspects Zakari and Musah had in their possession the items purchased by Anabiga and that they also used their photographs, names and addresses to register the vehicles to cover up for Anabiga.
He said Anabiga allegedly admitted committing the offence and explained that it had been initiated by the sales manager, Hayssam Minkara, who allegedly procured the fake bank rubber stamp and also forged the signature of the bank’s official.
He said Anabiga claimed that Hayssam had allegedly given him a share of the money at the end of each transaction.
Supt Agyemang said Hayssam had denied the allegations.

Human trafficking generates US$32 bn annually - According to ILO sources

Page 48: Daily Graphic, June 24, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that US$32 billion is generated annually from human trafficking worldwide.
This has made human trafficking one of the fastest-growing illegal businesses after arms and drugs.
The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Frank Adu-Poku, made this known in Accra yesterday at the opening of a workshop on counter-trafficking in human beings and other related crimes for detectives at the CID headquarters. The four-day workshop is being funded by the UNICEF.
He said human trafficking had become a growing concern throughout the world today and no country was exempted, saying, “Ghana is known as an origin, a transit and a destination country as far as human trafficking is concerned.”
Mr Adu-Poku said human trafficking was a modern-day form of slavery in which victims were subjected to force, fraud or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labour.
He described trafficking in persons as an aspect of irregular or negative migration that had come to the fore as a negative side of globalisation.
According to him, it was regrettable that Ghanaian children had become fisher boys not only in areas around the Volta Lake but faraway in The Gambia, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire and also made to work in stone quarries under hazardous conditions detrimental to their health and total development.
Mr Adu-Poku said governments were stepping up their efforts to address the root causes of human trafficking and develop counter measures.
He said it was in line with this that the Police Administration was collaborating with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide tailor-made training programmes for personnel of the police service to nip the social menace in the bud.
The Director of the Organised Crime Unit (OCU) of the CID, Superintendent Sarfo Agyemang, reminded the personnel to take all training programmes seriously because it would come in handy when they were posted to the regions and districts.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Man, 51, held over cocaine

Page 23: Daily Graphic, June 19, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A 51-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested for allegedly importing four kilogrammes of a whitish substance suspected to be cocaine into the country.
The cocaine, which was hidden in four Canon toner cartridges, was consigned to Kamarudin El-Ibnal Adjei, alias Joseph, a ramp supervisor at the Kotoka International Airport, through Fedex Courier Service.
A source at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) told the Daily Graphic that following intelligence reports, operatives of the BNI mounted surveillance on the consignment, which was contained in a box.
It said the cargo, which arrived on board a British Airways flight on June 11, 2009, was sent to the Fedex office at Asylum Down for the consignee to pick up.
According to the source, the suspect went to the offices of Fedex with his passport to claim ownership of the parcel.
It said the suspect was arrested after he had walked out of the premises of the company in possession of the cargo.
The source said Adjei told the operatives during interrogation that the cargo belonged to a Nigerian whose name he mentioned as Isaac Okey.
The source said it was later detected that there was no such person as Isaac Okey, as the suspect only wanted to mislead the investigators.
It said the suspect had been remanded to appear in court on July 7, 2009 while investigations continued.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Accommodation - Police need GH¢987.98 million

Page 3: Daily Graphic, June 18, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Ghana Police Service requires about GH¢987.98 million to solve both its acute residential and office accommodation problems by 2011.
The availability of the funds will enable the service to provide decent accommodation for 20,000 officers and men, as well as 329 office facilities across the country for its operations.
With more than 80 of its residential projects at different locations abandoned, the service is living with the irony of housing a large number of its officers in canteens, open workshops, kitchens and uncompleted structures.
About 58 per cent of the nearly 25,000 personnel are without decent accommodation, with most of them housed in “makeshift facilities” such as canteens, open workshops, kitchens and uncompleted structures.
A visit by the Daily Graphic to some of the barracks yesterday showed, for instance, that about 40 junior officers were housed in a canteen, with a single toilet and a bathroom to serve them.
Some of them, who had their mattresses packed at one end of the room, said they slept on the veranda or prayed that some of their colleagues went on night duties to enable them to use their space in the room.
They also bathed on the lawns of the Mobile Force Barracks to enable them to get ready for duty and used the toilet facilities of other officers or waited till they reported for work.
At another end of the barracks, some of the men who were housed in single rooms with their families had created artificial rooms to accommodate their property, while others had their fridges and cooking utensils exposed to the vagaries of the weather.
Records at the Estate Department of the service indicated that majority of police commanders and men resided in rented premises, while some officers had to lodge in hotels for considerably long periods before suitable accommodation could be found for them.
The Police Administration early this week announced the suspension of enlistment into the Ghana Police Service this year due to the worsening accommodation crisis.
An audit carried out in 2007 by the Ghana Audit Service (GAS) on the management of residential accommodation of the Ghana Police Service indicated that the complexity of the housing problem was a major reason for the low morale among the personnel, whose responsibility it is to maintain internal security.
It said there was a backlog of about 7,000 personnel waiting to be accommodated since 2006, while rooms measuring 16 square metres were allocated for use by two police families.
The report recommended that the Police Administration should implement its proposal to use police acquired lands as equity to obtain private financing to develop commercial and residential facilities.
It also recommended that the administration should seek assistance from metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in its effort to provide accommodation for police personnel in their respective areas.
Although the Police Administration had projected a five-year strategic plan covering 2006 to 2010 to address the accommodation problem by building more residential facilities, it faced a major challenge to the realisation of that goal.
Another challenge is the fact that recruitment into the Ghana Police Service and transfers are not matched with the provision of accommodation, resulting in overcrowding and risk of health hazards in police barracks.
The Police Administration had projected to increase its staff strength to 40,000 by 2010 but that projection requires accommodation for 20,000 police officers, an ambition the administration intends to redeem through new housing facilities at a cost of GH¢448.2 million and the finishing of uncompleted and abandoned housing projects at a cost of GH¢19.7 million.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Quaye, said a strong lobby team had been set up by the Police Administration to target institutions that benefited directly from the work of the police to support in various ways to address the accommodation challenges.
He said he was hopeful that civil society organisations and stakeholders who wished to see the Ghana Police Service perform at its optimum would also support the moves.
He reminded the public that the Police Service was not an income-generating agency, hence the need for all stakeholders to support it.
Mr Quaye said although the government had pledged its commitment to address the accommodation crisis, organisations and individuals must support the Police Administration to achieve its ultimate goal.

KIA records fewer arrests of traffickers

Page 3: Daily Graphic, June 17, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Kotoka International Airport (KIA) has recorded fewer arrests of drug traffickers as a result of the tight security measures instituted there.
There has also not been any reports of the arrest of drug couriers originating from the airport in other countries since March this year.
The last arrests made at the airport in Ghana were those of two drug couriers in February this year.
This new trend followed the arrest of four drug couriers on board different airlines which were transiting at the KIA.
The first of such transiting drug couriers, Aly Diarra, was arrested in May this year, following which he expelled 100 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.6 kilogrammes.
Diarra, who is a Nigerian by birth but was travelling on a Malian passport, was transiting through Ghana to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
He was on board an Emirates flight EK787 on which he had travelled from Sao Paolo, Brazil, through Dubai en route to Abidjan. The flight was delayed for several hours because officials initially declined handing Diarra over to officials of National Security and the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB).
Between June 9 and 11, 2009, three other couriers, all Nigerians, were picked up from the airlines on which they had travelled all the way from South American countries and were destined for Abidjan.
They are Clement Chukwuemeka Aniakor, Damian Ikechukwu Nwaeke and Friday Mgbanya. They are currently assisting NACOB in its investigations.
Briefing the Daily Graphic on the arrest of Clement, Damian and Friday, the Executive Secretary of NACOB, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Robert Ayalingo, commended Ghana’s international partners who were assisting to make Ghana a “no-go” area for drug couriers.
He said following such collaboration, Clement, who was travelling on a Nigerian passport number 00736127, was arrested on board the aircraft he had joined from Brazil on his way to Abidjan on June 9, 2009.
He said when he was confronted by operatives of NACOB, Clement voluntarily surrendered 17 pellets he had discharged on board the airline.
ACP Ayalingo said Clement explained that the flight delayed after transiting through Lima in Peru and Dubai before arriving in Ghana and alleged that he had lost some of the pellets in the course of expelling them in the aircraft.
After putting Clement under close observation, he later expelled 18 more pellets, bringing the total number to 35.
According to ACP Ayalingo, Damian, who was travelling on a Nigerian passport number A005602161, was suspected to have swallowed some drugs and was also on his way to Abidjan.
He said a search conducted on him after he had been picked up from the aircraft on June 11, 2009 revealed that he had concealed a whitish substance in two monitors of desktop computers, a printer and a bag.
ACP Ayalingo said Damian later expelled 17 more pellets when he was put under close observation.
With regard to Friday, the Executive Secretary said the suspect, who was on the same flight as Damian, denied carrying drugs on him.
He said a field test on his urine, however, proved positive for cocaine, before he confessed to swallowing drugs in Ecuador.
ACP Ayalingo said Friday, who was travelling on a Nigerian passport number A3745029A, started expelling the pellets of cocaine he had swallowed soiled with blood.
He said Friday was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital for medical attention, after which he expelled 27 pellets.
According to him, these were signs that the drug traffickers were avoiding the Kotoka Airport, hence the resort to transiting flights.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Police nab four fraudsters

Page 31: Daily Graphic, June 16, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
FOUR persons who allegedly defrauded a British national of £4,000 under two different fraudulent deals have been arrested by the police.
The suspects, Michael Ivan Kesty, Stephen Dadzie, Godwin Aborge and Julius Nutsukpo, are currently in custody at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters pending further investigations.
The suspects were said to have established contacts with the Briton through the Internet as friends but later used that opportunity to extract various sums of money totalling £4,000 from him.
While Michael and Stephen introduced themselves as surveyors based at Kasoa in the Central Region, Godwin and Julius exploited their cordial relationship with the victim to their advantage.
Briefing the Daily Graphic yesterday, the head of the Commercial Crime Unit (CCU) of the CID, Superintendent Maame Yaa Tiwaah, said Michael and Stephen after establishing rapport with their victim, informed him that the chief of Gomoa Fetteh and Akoti Village was selling parcels of land to prospective buyers.
She said the two allegedly mentioned the name of the chief as Baba Musah and assured their victim that they could facilitate the purchase of 5,000 acres for a fee of £100,000.
According to her, the suspects explained to their victim that 3,000 acres of the land was located at Gomoa Fetteh while 2,000 acres was at Kwasikrom also at Gomoa Fetteh.
Supt Tiwaah said the two then requested for £10,000 from their victim for the documentation covering the parcels of land to be sold to him.
She said the two men then informed their victim that the remaining £90,000 was to be paid over nine years in £10,000 instalments.
She said Michael and Stephen then sent a letter via the Internet purportedly signed by the Registrar of the High Court with Chief Baba Musah as witness to the transaction.
Supt Tiwaah said the victim then sent £1,400 to Michael and Stephen through the money transfer system.
She said while that transaction was ongoing, Godwin and Julius were also chatting with the victim as a friend and deliberations that Michael and Stephen were not privy to.
According to her, Godwin and Julius later informed their victim that their father had suddenly fallen ill with stroke and solicited for £2,600, which the victim sent.
Supt Tiwaah said after sending the money, the victim later discussed with some London-based Ghanaians the purchase of land in Ghana and the appeal for financial assistance by his Ghanaian friends.
She said it was during the discussion that the victim was informed that the transactions were fraudulent.
She said the victim then lodged a complaint with the police and under an arrangement, the victim informed the two groups that he had sent £750 to them and asked them to pick it up.
Supt Tiwaah said a team of detectives laid ambush on the premises of the money transfer organisation and arrested the four men when they showed up to collect the money.

Monday, June 15, 2009

ENLISTMENT ON HOLD * In Police Service

Front Page: Daily Graphic, June 15, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Police Administration has suspended the enlistment of persons into the Ghana Police Service this year because of inadequate housing facilities.
Accordingly, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, has tasked the Estate Department of the service to submit a status report of all police accommodation projects throughout the country within the shortest possible time.
The department is also to explore possibilities to secure private accommodation to be rented for personnel of the service.
Currently, most police recruits are sheltered in the offices, workshops and garages of police commands throughout the country.
Throwing more light on the decision by the Police Administration to suspend enlistment into the service this year, Mr Quaye told the Daily Graphic yesterday that one area where personnel were demoralisation was the provision of decent accommodation.
“We do not want to compound the already bad situation by recruiting personnel who will have no place to lay their heads,” he said.
He said within this period, the Police Administration was seeking to complete and renovate as many accommodation facilities as it could to ease the accommodation problem facing the service, saying, “The government has shown goodwill to support the Police Administration.”
Besides the financial support that the government was expected to provide to undertake those projects, Mr Quaye said he expected it to announce plans to deal with accommodation and improve on facilities at the various barracks.
When asked how the Police Administration intended to cope with the low number of personnel and the increasing demand for their services, he said it would use the period to organise in-service training programmes for the more than 24,000 personnel to improve upon their delivery.
He said there were question marks on the quality of service delivered by the personnel and was hopeful that with the re-training, their deficiencies would be addressed to deal with the absence of large numbers whose performance was questionable.
That notwithstanding, he said, the administration intended to deal with the accommodation crisis as soon as possible to start the recruitment exercise with the view to attaining the UN ratio of one policeman to 500 people. The current ratio in Ghana is 1:1,000.
Mr Quaye, however, explained that future recruitment was not going to be based on the availability of accommodation, saying, “We will ensure that quality of personnel is something we can rely on.”
Earlier, a statement signed by the Director of Police Public Affairs, DSP Kwesi Ofori, had explained that the essence of improving accommodation facilities was to provide personnel with the requisite comfort and the enabling environment for maximum output.
It said notwithstanding the suspension of the recruitment exercise, the Police Administration was going to re-condition its human resource by way of personnel development and other measures to meet its mandate of maintenance of law and order, protection of lives and property, including fighting robbery, and ensuring security in the communities.
It gave the assurance that the Police Administration would come out with its calendar on recruitment and training programmes.
During his maiden visit to the Accra Regional Police Command on June 2, this year, the IGP had expressed concern over the poor manner in which recruit Constables and some Inspectors and senior officers were accommodated in single-room barracks and argued that personnel could not be expected to give of their best if they had no decent places to lay their heads when they retired from duty at the end of the day.

Call for more control of small arms

Page 47: Daily Graphic, June 15, 2009
Story: Albert K. Salia
AN expert on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, says the various programmes aimed at achieving human security cannot be attained without the proper control of small arms and light weapons.
He said programmes such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), NEPAD, Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II, ECOWAS Protocols on Peace, Security and Development, among others, remain unattainable unless Ghanaians showed interest and took part in the eradication of small arms and light weapons.
Speaking in an interview to mark the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence, which runs from today, June 15 to June 21, 2009, Mr Sowatey said armed violence heightened tensions in societies experiencing conflict, undermined mediation efforts and created more insecurity.
According to him, armed violence had also increased criminality, destroyed infrastructure, disrupted agricultural activities as farmers tended to miss the rain, which in turn, meant that they would not be able to farm, thereby denying them their source of income.
Mr Sowatey said guns also created insecurity for domestic and local investors, and conflicts such as the one experienced in Bawku, had led to brain drain, thereby worsening the south-north socio-economic, educational, health and other developmental gap.
He said the frequent armed robbery incidents in the country, both urban and highway, the incessant use of weapons in Bawku and its consequences on life and property could not be overstated.
He noted that in most of those gun-related violence, women and children suffered disproportionately, and expressed the need for women to be included in peace processes in line with UN Resolution 1325, which calls for special provision and programmes to include women in peace process and also to protect them.
Mr Sowatey called on Parliament, media, civil society organisations and all peace-loving persons to support the government to pass a law backing the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), saying that “there are a lot of people who benefit from the lack of such stringent law and will want to impede the process. It is for this reason that we all need to support our governments across the world to pass this key document needed to reduce the illicit proliferation of SALW”.
He said since most of the guns found in the sub-region and conflict theatres in Ghana were not in Africa, there was the need to have a more robust, which was internationally and legally binding instrument to control the flow of those weapons. That was why the Government of Ghana, who supported the ATT, should keep on with the enthusiasm it had shown in supporting the ATT.
He explained that drafting of international law was slow, and its processes so complicated that it tended to invite complacency and, therefore, urged all stakeholders to speed up the process when the discussions about the ATT resumed at the United Nations.
“It may seem odd, so early in the process to talk of urgency, particularly when such overwhelming support for the establishment of a treaty has been demonstrated in the United Nations. In December 2008, 133 countries backed the idea, with only the United States voting against it,” he said.
Mr Sowatey, who is a member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), said anyone with experience of international law would know that composing a formula on the control of arms transfer was no easy matter, especially when that formula had to fit in with the legal and political reality of every country in the world.
“This work is as unglamorous as it is difficult, and the temptation to put it aside for another day will be strong. But that must not be allowed to happen,” he admonished.
He said the human suffering in the Democratic Republic of Congo was a brutal illustration of what could happen when arms transfers continued unchecked.
He said while promoting peace, the ATT was not really about disarmament.
“The ATT is a matter of human rights and of security; specifically, the right of people to live in peace. It is about economics too. The failure to regulate the arms trade has an incalculable human cost, but its impact can also be measured in hard cash. Every cent spent on repairing the damage done by armed conflict is a cent that could have been spent on development. The Millennium Development Goals may not have extended to cover weapons transfers, but they are made less achievable because of the failure to regulate the arms trade,” he added.
Mr Sowatey called on all those in possession of arms to endeavour to register their firearms and also renew the licences as required by law.
He also called on Ghanaians to report the activities of gun runners to the nearest security post for action.

3 Policemen face disciplinary action * For reporting at wrong duty posts

Page 3: Daily Graphic, June 13, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
Three policemen who were found at wrong duty posts in Accra last Thursday have been arrested in a special exercise to curb indiscipline in the Ghana Police Service.
The culprits, who are currently in police custody, are Lance Corporal Emmanuel Togah of the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF), L/Cpl Collins Amoako of the Accra Central Division and Constable Asamoah Sarpong of the Airport Police.
Surprisingly, L/Cpl Togah, who until his arrest on Thursday was on interdiction for a series of police misconduct cases, was found in police uniform and combat helmet on traffic duties along the Graphic Road.
L/Cpl Amoako, who was supposed to be on guard duties at the Knutford Avenue branch of the Barclays Bank, was rather found at the Tudu branch of the SG-SSB in a T-shirt, while his uniform, which had the rank of a corporal lay in a kiosk close by.
Constable Sarpong was found loitering at Kantamanto when he was expected to be on guard duties at the Dzorwulu branch of the GT Bank.
Five others whose names are being withheld are also being investigated for deserting their posts.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Director of Police Operations, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Richmond Nii Boi-Bi-Boi, and the Special Operations Assistant (SOA), Superintendent Alhaji H. A. Yakubu, who led the exercise on Thursday, said the exercise was in response to directives by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Quaye, to instil discipline and the right attitude in personnel.
Following the directives, ACP Boi-Bi-Boi said, the Operations Department and the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) decided to embark on surprise checks at duty posts to ensure that personnel performed the tasks assigned them with diligence and professionalism.
He said the IGP was concerned about the increasing indiscipline and the involvement of police personnel in criminality, as well as their attitude of deserting their posts.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi said the team set up by the two departments started the exercise on Thursday by visiting roads, banks, checkpoints and traffic lights to examine the turn out of personnel and whether they had been mandated by their commanders to conduct those exercises.
“The team is to find out whether the personnel behave well while on duty, they professional, properly turned out in uniforms and whether they are undertaking lawful duties,” he explained.
According to him, the exercise had become necessary because it had been reported that some personnel assigned themselves certain duties without recourse to their commanders, call their colleagues in other jurisdictions and indulge in illegal activities such as debt collection and road checks.
ACP Boi-Bi-Boi said some of the complaints also related to personnel abandoning their officially assigned bank duty posts for other banks, while others absented themselves from duty, as well as left their weapons behind.
He said the exercise, which would be replicated across the country, was also to ensure that personnel conducted themselves well and did not put up insulting behaviour in their dealings with members of the public.
He explained that such behaviours did not augur well for the image of the service, hence the directives by the IGP to deal with the growing canker.
For his part, Supt Yakubu said it was in line with the vision of the IGP that the exercise was mounted on Thursday to send signals to others in the Police Service that “they must change their attitude to work, be professional or be blown off”.
Since his assumption of duty, the IGP has warned personnel of the service to embrace the wind of change blowing in the service or be blown off.

Friday, June 12, 2009

'Prosecutions shouldn't become a witch-hunt'

Front Page: Daily Graphic, June 12, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), a London-based think tank, has cautioned that if not properly handled, the prosecution of officials under the Kufuor administration who are alleged to be corrupt can degenerate into “a witch hunt”.
In its June monthly review of Ghana, the EIU acknowledged increasing agitation among the public and some civil society organisations for the prosecution of officials of the previous administration who had been accused of corruption or misusing their office for private gain.
It, however, cautioned that the prosecution of that agenda could slip into a game of political point-scoring and heighten the tension between the two major parties in the country if it was made to follow the example set by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) when it was in power.
“There certainly does seem to be an element of political point-scoring involved. Indeed, the NPP set the example when it pushed for the prosecution of former NDC ministers of state, including the Minister of Finance and his deputy, when the NPP unseated the NDC to take power in 2000,” it said.
According to the EIU, “This is a major problem with the battle against corruption in Ghana, as well as across Africa, in that an anti-corruption crusade is all too often designed to persecute political enemies rather than being an attempt to make the lives of ordinary citizens better.”
The think tank also expressed concern over rising tribal tensions in northern Ghana, especially in respect of the Dagbon dispute.
It said although the two Royal gates, Abudu and Andani, had a history of antagonism that periodically escalated into violence, tension had been especially fraught since 2002 following the killing of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and 40 others in March 2002.
It said the Abudu Gate members had often been blamed for the deaths, with the then ruling NPP accused of “turning a blind eye to events, a feeling which has gained credence, given that the former government failed to bring the perpetrators to justice”.
The EIU said it was generally perceived that the Abudus were supported by the NPP, while the Andanis were backed by the NDC, and indicated that there appeared to be a growing feeling within the Andanis that they now had the upper hand since the NDC won the 2008 elections.
“How the NDC government handles the situation in Dagbon will have implications across Ghana, especially in the north, where there are numerous similar tribal disputes simmering,” it noted.
It also expressed concern over how the opposition NPP chose to approach the situation, as the early signs were that it would attempt to use tribal tensions as a means of attacking the government.
According to the EIU, the recent flare up in tribal tensions in the Dagbon area was made worse by the comments of Nana Akufo-Addo, the defeated NPP presidential candidate in the 2008 elections, when he held a press conference “castigating the NDC government and accusing it of inciting violence”.
It noted that Nana Akufo-Addo’s comments were criticised by most political analysts, especially “as many of the problems he highlighted were inherited by the NDC from the previous NPP government”.
It said among the critics of Nana Akufo-Addo was a senior member of the NPP, Professor Wayo Seini, who argued that the comments were inaccurate and portrayed an intention to drive the Andani faction away from the NPP when the party should be seeking to be more inclusive.
“Such comments from a senior NPP member hint at the divisions still affecting the party, with Nana Akufo-Addo working hard to maintain his influence. His provocative statement on the Dagbon issue probably reflects this, as the opposition leader attempts to keep himself in the limelight,” it added.
The EIU projected that similar bold statements could be expected in the future, with Nana Akufo-Addo also likely “to continue to attempt to distance himself from the previous NPP government under the former President, Mr John Kufuor, who still maintains some influence in the party and is not a strong supporter of Nana Akufo-Addo”.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Agyekum to answer for contract payment

Page 72: Daily Graphic, June 11, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
FORMER Deputy Information Minister, Mr Frank Agyekum has been invited by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to answer questions on an GH¢86,915.85 (¢869 million) contract he awarded to Plexiform Ventures for the renovation of the offices of the Information Minister and his deputy and the washroom of the Ministry of Information.
Although some portions of the work, which involved the fixing of new floor tiles were done, the manner in which the Chief Director of the Ministry, Mr D. A. Y. Sampong wrote a letter to the Ministry of Finance and Economic PLanning, dated May 29, 2009, without the knowledge of the substantive Minister, Mrs Zita Okaikoi, brought in the BNI after the Finance Ministry rejected the request, raising concerns that there were no supporting documents covering the transactions.
The acting Chief Director, Mr Sampong, the Deputy Finance and Administration Director identified only as Mr Denkyira and the Principal Accountant of the ministry, Mr Lawrence Dzakpaa, have already been quizzed by the BNI.
Sources close to the BNI told the Daily Graphic that Mr Sampong wrote to the Finance Ministry for the release of GH¢86,915 to be paid to Plexiform Ventures for works it undertook for the Ministry.
They said the Finance Ministry queried the request because there were no appropriate documents including award of contract by the Procurement Committee of the Ministry of Information.
The sources explained that the Principal Accountant had earlier raised objections to the paymnent for the same reasons but was allegedly ignored.
They said when Mrs Okaikoi's attention was drawn to it, she denied knowledge of it and alerted the BNI to take up the matter.
The sources said it was at that point that Mr Agyekum was mentioned as having signed the contract documents awarding the contract to Plexiform Ventures, owned by Ms Irene Lorwia.

Monday, June 8, 2009

MDAs directed to reduce fuel usage

Page 3: Daily Graphic, June 8, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE government has announced fuel saving measures by all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) following the 30 per cent price increase in petroleum products at the weekend.
The measures are geared towards reducing government expenditure on fuel for ministers and other officials by 30 per cent.
The Information Minister, Mrs Zita Okaikoi, told the Daily Graphic last Friday that as part of the measures, all government vehicles were to be re-branded in the names of the designated MDAs to check their indiscriminate use.
She said there was evidence of some government and public officials who used state vehicles for funerals and commercial purposes, at the expense of the taxpayer.
She said with the new policy of re-branding the vehicles, it would be difficult for anybody to use state vehicles for such purposes.
In line with that, Mrs Okaikoi said the number plates of government vehicles would revert to GV registration, a policy which was in place until it was relaxed some years back.
The Information Minister said the policy would also include a reduction in the volume of fuel allocated to various MDAs, including ministers who draw fuel from government depots.
The National Petroleum Authority last Friday announced a 30 per cent upward adjustment in petroleum prices.
Following the price hikes, a litre of petrol that sold at 85.7Gp now costs GH¢1.11. Diesel is also up from 86.2Gp to GH¢1.12; kerosene from 66.5Gp to 86.45Gp and LPG now goes for 79.82Gp from the previous 61.4Gp.

CID clears premises of vehicles

Page 44: Daily Graphic, June 8, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE premises of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service have been cleared of impounded and exhibit vehicles.
The exercise followed a directive by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Quaye to the leadership of the CID to rid the premises of what he called “the unsightly picture depicting a carefree environment”.
The Deputy Director of the CID, Mr Ken Yeboah told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the next line of action was to level the frontage of the premises to keep it in shape.
He explained that the absence of an appropriate place to relocate the vehicles delayed the clearing exercise but was happy that it had finally been done.
As to whether measures had been put in place to forestall a situation where impounded or exhibits vehicles were parked for long periods resulting in some of them becoming scraps, Mr Yeboah said there was nothing the police could do.
He said the way forward was for the courts to expeditiously deal with the cases since they were exhibits.
He said unless the courts gave an order, the police could do nothing on its own.
Mr Yeboah said relocating the vehicles had not been easy since private garages were also not the best since anything could happen to them.
He said there was also not enough space at the Police Workshop to relocate them.
At a meeting with staff of the CID on Friday May 22, 2009, Mr Quaye likened congested and haphazard litter of vehicles at the frontage of the CID to a mismanaged vehicle scrap yard and demanded that the entire premises be cleared within one week.
He described the CID headquarters as an important establishment which must wean itself of such messy environment.

MUBURAK'S CASE TAKES NEW TURN * National Security takes over investigations

Front Page: Daily Graphic, June 6, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE National Security Council Secretariat has taken over the investigations of the allegations of financial malfeasance levelled against the Youth and Sports Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Muburak. It is to determine whether or not the said allegations were a frame-up.
The Principal Accountant of the ministry, Mr Adim Odoom, is said to have made serious allegations of financial and administrative indiscretion against the minister, Alhaji Muntaka Muburak, who has, this far, insisted on his innocence and claimed that the whole game is a design by his detractors to get him out.
Following this development, the National Security Secretariat has asked Mr Odoom to provide all documents covering the purported payments he alleged the minister received.
Sources close to the secretariat told the Daily Graphic that President Mills had taken the allegations seriously and, therefore, directed officials of the secretariat to handle the investigations.
The sources explained that in all public service financial transactions, memos, invoices, payment receipts were attached.
They said substantiating the allegations would be easy for the person making the allegations.
“So far, no such evidence appears to be forthcoming or exist,” they added.
They said Mr Odoom had been asked to provide the registration numbers of the five vehicles he alleged the minister had allocated to himself, provide memos and payment vouchers covering the GH¢12,000 to enable the minister to buy gifts for his constituents, the collection of $25,000 for the payment of protocol to the Ghana Football Association and the request for a refund of GH¢15,200 with a receipt in the name of Zinabu Mubarak in respect of meat and other food items purchased from the market.
The sources said Mr Odoom was also to provide evidence of the $10,000 the minister allegedly collected to pay for landing charges, as well as the $2,000 he (Muburak) took as imprest to cater for hotel bills and other expenses in Abidjan.
“These are all public service transactions and you and I know that no one can pay or collect money from the bank or receive it without documents covering the transactions,” they said.
The sources were hopeful that Mr Odoom would provide the documents as soon as possible to enable the investigation team to resolve the mystery, as “President Mills wants it to be dealt with in the shortest possible time”.

Man, 59, arrested for fraud

Page 21: Daily Graphic, June 6, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A 59-year-old man who described himself as the Dzaasetse (king maker) of Ga Mashie has been arrested by the police for allegedly defrauding one Stephen Appiah of GH¢20,000.
Nii Amui Degraft Quaye, who is currently on prison remand and is due for court on June 10, 2009, however claims his surveyor, whom he identified as George Aidoo, alias Abeiku, only gave him GH¢9,000 for 10 plots of land which he (Degraft) sold to the complainant in 2007.
A source at the Accra Regional Police Command told the Daily Graphic yesterday that unknown to Mr Appiah, the land sold to him by Degraft of the Abola Clan was under litigation.
It said an estate developer, Mr Kofi Anokye, was contesting the ownership of the land with Degraft in court but the suspect sold the land to Mr Appiah.
It said when Mr Appiah demanded the documents covering the land, Degraft allegedly informed him that the land was under litigation and advised him (Appiah) to be patient.
The source said Mr Appiah then demanded a refund of his money, since he could not part with that amount of money without anything to show for it.
It said Degraft, however, failed to refund the money after several promises to do so.
It said Degraft later insisted that Mr Appiah should wait till the end of the litigation so that the documents would be handed over to him.
According to the source, Degraft allegedly admitted in his caution statement that he had collected only GH¢9,000 from Abeiku as the money paid to him by Mr Appiah.
It said the suspect was charged with defrauding by false pretences, resulting in the court remanding him into prison custody.

2 cops jailed 20 years* For conspiracy, robbery

Page 3: Daily Graphic, June 5, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
AN ACCRA Circuit Court yesterday sentenced two policemen to a total of 20 years imprisonment after convicting them on charges of conspiracy and robbery.
The convicts, Constables Joseph Frimpong and Frank Boakye, formerly of the Airport Police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), joined the Ghana Police Service in 2003 and 2006, respectively.
The Presiding Judge, Mr Mahamadu Iddrisu, sentenced them to 10 years each on each count, both of which are to run concurrently.
The facts of the case, as presented by the prosecutor, ASP George Abavelim, were that on August 14, 2008, Frimpong and Boakye, together with four civilians who are yet to be identified, went to the Dzorwulu traffic light intersection purporting to be performing traffic duties.
He said on seeing a Mali-bound cargo truck loaded with bicycles, motorcycles and spare parts, the convicts stopped the truck.
He said the two policemen pulled out the driver of the truck and his two mates and put them into two waiting taxis.
According to the prosecutor, the driver and his mates were driven to the Achimota Forest and abandoned there, adding that the policemen and their civilian accomplices then drove the truck to an uncompleted building at a place known as Alafia at Darkuman in Accra where they discharged the goods.
ASP Abavelim said the convicts and their accomplices later abandoned the empty truck on the Kasoa-Winneba highway.
He said after a complaint had been lodged with the police, investigations led to the arrest of Boakye and Frimpong on September 16 and 17, 2008, respectively.

British High Commission donates to Visa Fraud Unit

Page 23: Daily Graphic, June 5, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE British High Commission has presented office equipment worth GH¢25,308 and Toyota pick-up valued at $22,000 to the Documentation and Visa Fraud Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.
The Immigration Liaison Manager of the High Commission, Mr Paul Stafford, who presented the items on behalf of the United Kingdom Border Agency International Group at a ceremony in Accra, said since the establishment of the unit, the number of people arrested for submitting forged documents at the Commission had decreased dramatically from more than 1,000 in 2005 to 330 last year.
“It clearly shows that our joint efforts have got the message across but obviously there is still work to be done and hope that our donation can assist the CID in their work,” he said.
Mr Stafford said it was in recognition of the good work of the CID to counteract document fraud and illegal migration that the UK Border Agency decided to support the CID since the two shared similar goals.
He noted that the prevalence of forged documents could affect the genuine traveller who are forced to undergo further scrutiny because of the actions of unscrupulous persons.
For his part, the Director-General of the CID, DCOP Frank Adu-Poku noted that crime in the contemporary society had become very sophisticated and networked and as such, fighting crime required modern equipment and a lot of intelligence gathering.
He said it was in that vein that the Ghana Police Service was grateful to the British High Commission for their co-operative partnership with the police to get rid of miscreants in the society.
He said since the establishment of the unit, the British High Commission had supported the unit in its investigations and intelligence gathering, and training among others.

More training for cops

Page 20/45: Daily Graphic, June 4, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Quaye, yesterday announced plans for the continuous training of personnel of the Ghana Police Service.
Currently, there is no continuous training programme in place to sharpen the skills of personnel after they have passed out of the National Police Training Schools or the Police Staff College.
Key on the agenda of a meeting of the Headquarters Management and Advisory Board (HEMAB) meeting on June 3, 2009, is the drawing up of strategies and establishment of structures for the continuous training programme.
Speaking at the opening of Cadet Course 42 for 125 personnel at the Police College in Accra yesterday, Mr Quaye said the training and retraining of personnel in any organisation was important and central to its success and development since the process equipped individuals with the requisite knowledge base and technical capacity-building skills to enable them play their roles effectively.
He said it was against that background that the Police Administration found it imperative to make training and retraining one of the priorities to enhance the professionalism of the personnel.
He said the exigencies of constitutional democracy also underscored the need to constantly keep personnel well-informed about the approaches and techniques of modern policing in accordance with the appropriate principles of democratic policing.
Mr Quaye reminded the personnel that the positive use of modern technology was sometimes misapplied for purposes which were harmful to society.
He said the Police could not remain static in their various approaches to preventing and solving crime, which was aimed at ensuring safer communities and neighbourhoods.
Mr Quaye said the police could only face the challenges of the times “through regular training in contemporary policing methods to help us update our knowledge and keep abreast with current developments”.
He said the Police Administration had also decided that cadet officers pay GH¢5 of their daily feeding cost as part of measures to reduce the cost the Police incurred in running the programme and also help to run regular cadet officers courses for the increasing number of qualified personnel.
The Commandant of the college, Osabarima Oware Asare Pinkro III, in a welcoming address, noted that police personnel could not continue to rely on what they were taught years back.
“We should not create a false impression that we can do better without retraining initiatives and programmes. We should learn new things. The complex issues and debates in the field of crime control and the new global politics of safety and security are with us. We cannot run away from these bare facts,” he noted.
Osabarima Pinkro urged police personnel to move beyond the narrow and technical boundaries of traditional policing which had always been reactive and not proactive.

‘Embrace wind of change or be blown off’

Page 53: Daily Graphic, June 4, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, has urged personnel of the Ghana Police Service to embrace the wind of change blowing in the service or be blown off.
He said the change was necessary and personnel must conform to it as his administration “is committed to purging the service of undesirable elements”.
Addressing personnel of the Accra Regional Police Command in Accra last Tuesday, Mr Quaye said the overall responsibility for achieving positive results for such a crusade would lie on senior police officers who supervised the work of their subordinates.
He said the service had for far too long paid lip-service to discipline, noting that the rules of discipline must be made to bite.
He urged officers to be firm in ensuring that incorrigible personnel were dealt with in accordance with the due process of the law and weeded out of the service.
“We cannot afford to continue keeping in our fold personnel who have, by their various nefarious activities, become more of liabilities than assets to the service,” Mr Quaye stated.
According to the IGP, some personnel of the profession had turned the service into a conduit pipe for mercenary activities “with an uncontrolled lust to make money at all costs from any duty they carry out”.
Mr Quaye said in some cases some personnel engaged themselves in unauthorised duties, which gave the impression that they joined the service with hidden agenda and motives.
He said such attitude of the police personnel had combined to dent the image of the service.
“It is a matter of shame to say that some policemen and women, especially those who find themselves deployed for motor traffic duties are seen literally begging for alms on a daily basis, he noted.
"Those of you who see the Police Service as a gold mine or a conceptualised ‘El Dorado’ should advise themselves before they are caught in the web of the rigid enforcement of discipline which the current administration intends to pursue,” he warned.
The IGP, therefore, directed that all motor checks on the highways and other busy roads should only be authorised by regional commanders as inspection teams would be sent out from the Police Headquarters to major routes to deal with wayward personnel.
Touching on policing in Accra, Mr Quaye said the work of the police in the nation's capital was demanding and daunting and urged the personnel to take up the challenges in their stride and work assiduously towards ensuring that Accra was safe for all residents.
Mr Quaye advised personnel to avoid ‘trial and error’ style of conducting investigations because it resulted in waste of time and resources and ended up with many unresolved crimes.
He said human rights violations had also become the hallmark of some officers who flagrantly disregarded the basic principles of human rights protection, the rule of law and the tenets of democratic policing.
“Besides human rights abuses which manifest in unlawful arrests, detentions, interrogations, many of our officers and men, by their conduct, embarrass their colleagues by engaging in activities which discredit the service and bring its corporate image into ruins,” he noted.

Drug courier nabbed at Kotoka Airport

Page 3: Daily Graphic, June 2, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A 39-year-old man who was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport at the weekend on suspicion of being a drug courier expelled 100 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.6 kilogrammes after he had initially objected to sweat and urine tests.
Aly Diarra, who is a Nigerian by birth but was travelling on a Malian passport, was transiting through Ghana to Abidjan.
He was on board an Emirates flight EK787 on which he had travelled from Sao Paolo, Brazil, through Dubai en route to Abidjan. The flight was delayed for several hours because officials initially declined handing Diarra over to officials of National Security and the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).
When reason prevailed and a sweat test was conducted on the itemisers, it proved positive for cocaine, which was later confirmed by the urine test and an X-ray examination.
After his arrest, Diarra was said to have commented that it was God’s desire that he be arrested in Ghana, since, according to him, officials at the Dubai Airport had also conducted searches on him but claimed to have found nothing.
He was interrogated by officials of NACOB after he had expelled the 100 pellets, each weighing 16 grammes.
He admitted going to Sao Paolo in 2008 to procure one kilogramme of cocaine, which he sold for $20,000 in Abidjan.
He said the cost of cocaine had gone up due to the scarcity of the commodity, hence the motivation to accept a sponsorship to Sao Paolo and back for a fee of $4,000.
The Executive Secretary of NACOB, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Robert Ayalingo, told the Daily Graphic that Diarra’s arrest followed a collaboration between NACOB and its international partners.
He said when the information was passed on to NACOB, it decided to seek the support of the National Security Secretariat, since the suspect was a transit passenger.
He said after consultations, it was decided that the suspect be arrested.