30 cyber fraud suspects have been nabbed by the Achimota Mile 7 Police in Accra, Ghana. The arrest was made on the morning of Saturday March 18, around 7 am when the police swooped on a house located in the Alhaji Tabora area.
Among the arrested cyber fraud suspects are 29 Nigerians and a Ghanaian; all aged between 21 and 30. One other person, Peter Konadu Frimpong, 34 who was on top of a storey building video-covering the police activities was also nabbed.
Read: Ghana Scams: 10 Strategies To Get You Fooled!
Speaking to Daily Graphic, the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Osabarima Oware Asare Pinkro II, revealed that the Police had earlier received a tip off on the activities of the occupants of the house. They had therefore kept the place under surveillance before launching their attack on Saturday.
According to the DCOP, all the suspects were inside the house, with most of them busy with one cyber crime related activity or the other at the time of the arrest. 34 laptops and 48 mobile phones used by the suspected internet fraudsters were retrieved from the house during the police raid. Below are the names of the arrested cyber fraud suspects:
Also linked to this group of cyber fraud suspects is the case of a dead body which was wrapped and dumped at the Apenkwa neighbourhood two weeks ago. DCOP Pinkro said that a search on the body revealed that the victim was killed somewhere else and later dumped at the place.
He said investigations so far indicate that the body is that of a member of the group, a Nigerian who had gone missing. According to the Police Commander, the deceased colleagues had beaten him to death for divulging their secret to a third party whose identity he kept undisclosed.
Prior to this particular Alhaji Tabora swoop, the police had conducted similar raids in areas under all its 14 divisions, tipped to be harboring dangerous criminals in the town.
Among the areas are – Adenta, the Odorkor Market, Kwashieman, Gbawe, Anyaa, Sowutuom and its environs, the Achimota Charcoal Station, Aborfu, the Santana Market, the Abeka Market, Kissieman, Akweteman, the Madina Market, the Redco Flats, Madina Zongo, the Madina Lorry Station, Madina Firestone, Adabraka, Tuobodom at Adabraka, the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Accra New Town.
See: 10 Places You Can Find Internet Fraudsters (Sakawa Boys) in Ghana
In all, 112 suspected criminals were arrested. Electronic gadgets as well as wrapped substances believed to be hard drugs ranging from Indian hemp to other narcotics were retrieved from the suspects. 305 of such wrapped substances were gotten at Accra new Town alone.
The Accra Regional Police Commander appealed to the general public to assist the Police in ridding the town of criminals by providing them with information on criminal activities.
Making reference to the hard drugs retrieved from the suspects, he drew the attention of all to the dangers of having such individuals live among the people; pointing out that the abuse of drugs by these persons account for most cases of violent crimes such as robbery, murder and suicide.
Stressing the importance of police raids to fish out criminals, the regional commander said that the public are in a better position to disclose the activities of these criminals to the police since most of them live in their midst.
“Police work thrives on information. What we want the public to do is provide us with information. They should give us information on the hideouts of these criminals. They know them; they live with some of them. If possible, they should come to me personally,” he appealed.
He further urged the people to get rid of fears that their identity will be revealed by the police to the criminals they reported, as nothing like that ever happens.
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