The Kwabenya District Police Command has arrested a gang of alleged fraudsters that stole from delivery trucks carrying consumables for supply to outlets in the Greater Accra Region.
The suspects are Michael Oduro, 33, a taxi driver, Francis Asiedu, a trader, Yaa Nhyira Ofosuaa, 30, unemployed, Nana Aboagye, 35, unemployed, and Kwasi Acheampong, a trader at Taifa.
The alleged leader of the gang, George Kumordzi, who according to the police was instrumental in the arrest of some members of the group, is currently on the run.
Thirty-year-old unemployed Ofosuaa, who led the latest operation of the gang, for which the members were arrested, allegedly broke down and confessed to the police that she had been involved in only two operations.
She is also said to have confessed to possessing 199 boxes of Leap Tomato Paste obtained under similar circumstances at Kaneshie.
Details
Briefing the Daily Graphic about the case, the Kwabenya District Commander of Police, Superintendent Victoria Yamoah, said on August 7, 2015, two men who said they were distributors of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages lodged a complaint with the Kwabenya police that they had been defrauded by a woman to the tune of GH¢5,000 worth of beverages.
The fraudster turned out to be Ofosuaa.
According to Supt. Yamoah, the complainants said a week earlier, they had received a call from a woman who said she was bereaved and needed some beverages for the funeral.
She promised calling them when the time was due, the complainants told the police.
Then, on August 7, 2015, Ofosuaa called and met the supply truck in front of the Kwabena District office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), where she bought GH¢5,000 worth of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, which were packed into a KIA truck.
Supt. Yamoah said, however, that after the drinks had been loaded onto the truck, the buyer said she did not have money on her to pay for the goods and so they would have to follow her to the house to be paid.
The KIA truck was then dispatched while she got into a taxi and asked the delivery truck to follow her.
One of the retailers joined her in the taxi and along the journey, Superintendent Yamoah said, Ofosuaa asked the taxi driver to stop for her to buy some items.
Supt. Yamoah said when she got down, the retailer also got down to check on the delivery truck which was lagging behind.
Instant action
Then, instantly, Ofosuaa entered the taxi and it sped off but the retail man had written down the registration number of the taxicab before then.
Supt. Yamoah said based on the information provided, the police managed to arrest a man named George Kumordzi, who confessed that it was a group operation and that he was in charge of selling the booty.
He then led the police to Oduro, the taxi driver, at Teshie where he lived. He also led the police to Nana Aboagye, who also assisted in the sale of the booty, and then to Acheampong, a trader at Taifa but later escaped from the police.
According to Supt. Yamoah, Richard Armoo, who bought some of the items, said he had been told by the gang that they were employees of Guinness Ghana Limited who were selling the items on a discount.
George Kumordzi, according to the police, owns a big boutique at Nii Boye Town.
Supt.Yamoah called on other members of the public who might have had any such encounter to call at the Kwabenya Police Station, near Atomic Energy, to help in investigations.
