Cop, 7 Others Grabbed Over $523k Gold Scam

A police officer and seven individuals have been arrested and dragged before court for trading in a fake gold worth $523,000.00.

Two Turkish nationals, Omer Topcu and Mustafa Ceyhan, who bought the fake 10kg gold have also been arrested and arraigned for purchasing gold without a licence.

The Ghanaians after successfully defrauding their victims, gave National Security personnel attached to the case a cash sum of GH¢1 million as their share of the transaction. The money has been kept as an evidence against them.

The Ghanaians, Staff Sergeant Akwasi Aning, Samuel Adu Kumi, Benjamin Kakpo Addoquaye aka Ketuketu, Isaac Offei alias Atta, Benjamin Kologo and Isaac Tieku, have been charged with conspiracy, defrauding by false pretence and money laundering.

They all pleaded not guilty to the three charges preferred against them by the Office of the Attorney General.

Samuel Adu Kumi is separately charged with one count of selling gold without licence, while Benjamin Kpakpo Addoquaye and Isaac Offei who were charged with one count of corruption of a public officer also pleaded not guilty.

Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, the trial judge, granted the accused a bail of GH¢500,000.00 each with two sureties each.

All sureties for the six Ghanaians are to provide justifications with a landed property, but the sureties of the victims have been cleared of that burden.

The court ordered the eight to deposit their passports at the registry of the court as part of their bail conditions.

They were further ordered by the court to report to the investigator of the unit that arrested them every Monday at the beginning of every month till the conclusion of the case.

The prosecution’s fact presented by Selasi Kuwornu, an Assistant State Attorney at the Office of the Attorney General indicated that on November 24, 2023, the National Security had intelligence that some persons involved in gold trading were planning to scam two foreigners.

The facts state that on the same day, personnel from National Security followed the intelligence which led them to Addoquaye and Isaac Offei.

The two reportedly informed the National Security personnel of their plan to defraud their victims who are representatives of Akbn Kuyumculuk Sanyi Ve Tiocaret Anonim Sirrketti, a Turkish company dealing in gold.

The two had planned to defraud the victims to serve as revenge for the two foreigners causing them to lose huge sums of money in an earlier gold transaction.

The accused persons reportedly promised the National Security personnel a cut of the booty and the officers decided to play along in order to get more evidence against the accused.

Court documents indicate that the Ghanaians had agreed to sell the 10 metals molded in the form of gold bars with each bar representing a kilo of gold, for $523,000.00 to the Turkish victims.

According to the documents, the role of the police officer was to provide personnel from the security agencies to feign the arrest of the two Turkish nationals along with two of the Ghanaians on their way to the Kotoka International Airport.

The documents further state that on November 13, 2023, the two Turkish through Akbn Kuyumculuk Sanyi Ve Tocaret Anonim Sirrketti transferred an amount of US$523,000.00 into the account of Benkotec Refinery for the purchase and shipment of the 10 bars of gold.

The money has been withdrawn by the accused persons from the said account and has not yet been recovered.