Policeman and two others in "sakawa" remanded

Accra, May 29, GNA - A Police Constable, Daniel Donkor and two others caught in the web of cyber fraud aka "sakawa" have been remanded into police custody when they appeared before an Accra Circuit Court. Constable Donkor, of Madina Police, Sherif Anadu and William Asante both traders have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and forgery.

They would re-appear on June 11, before the court presided over by Mrs Ivy Heward-Mills.

They allegedly defrauded a Namibian, Rudolf Johannes Veldsmen of 7,900 dollars and were being prosecuted by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) P.K. Frimpong. The facts before the court were that sometime in April this year Anadu and Constable Donkor engaged the complainant on the internet in a chat and proposed to transfer an inheritance of 30 million dollars to him at Namibia.

After some time, the accused persons invited the complainant to Ghana. On May 26, this year, the complainant arrived in Ghana and lodged in a hotel at East Cantonments, Accra. The same day, they picked the complainant from his hotel to a private home at Madina, in Accra where Asante posed as a lawyer and showed him a box he alleged contained valuables and collected 500 dollars.

On May 27, this, year, the police on hearing that the accused persons were going to collect additional 7,600 dollars from the complainant proceeded to the hotel at about 11:30am and were arrested. Constable Donkor being a policeman had in his possession an AK 47 assault rifle with 10 rounds of ammunitions. A further search led to the discovery of a green booklet captioned "Letter of Declaration Form" from Asante.