A 38-year-old Muslim cleric, Mallam Abdul Rahman Iddrisu, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding his clients to the tune of GH¢60,000 (¢600 million).

Mallam Iddrisu was said to have taken the money from five of his clients as cost for rituals to conjure dollars for them. The police have launched a manhunt for a number of ‘dwarfs’ believed to be his accomplices.

The GH¢60,000.00 was supposedly used for the purchase of items like cows, vulture eggs, red chameleon, sheep, perfumes, bags of rice, gallons of cooking oil, Guinea fowls, bags of millet and other assorted ingredients for money rituals.

Somewhere in September 2010, a certain Samson introduced the five male clients to Mallam Abdul Rahman at Amasaman near Accra, to assist them buying some old Schnapps bottles which were claimed to contain substances believed to be mercury.

The Mallam assured them that the bottles would be brought from the Volta Region in three days from the day of consultation.

After the expiration of the three days without the arrival of the expected bottles, Mallam Abdul Rahman suggested that he could help the five make more money than they could from the supposed Schnapps bottles if they could get him GH¢1,540 to purchase some of the above-mentioned items to facilitate the conjuring of genuine US dollar notes for them.

The victims gave him the amount which he claimed he used in buying the said items somewhere in the Republic of Togo for the rituals. When Mallam Abdul Rahman Iddrisu returned from his supposed journey, the five allegedly witnessed a magical ritual which saw the conjuring of a sum of $700,000.

When they sought to reach for the box containing the dollars, the Mallam prevented them from touching it, until the money-drawing gods were appeased by performing more rites.

Considering the mouthwatering amount promised, the five combined their resources, with some having to part with properties like cars, to raise enough money for the ever-demanding Mallam.

Mallam Abdul Rahman kept asking for one thing or the other until somewhere last week when he requested a red chameleon. The “big five” could not find a red chameleon anywhere on the Ghanaian market so they went back for a substitution; but they were shocked when the Mallam said in lieu of the red chameleon, they would have to part with GH¢25,000.

They rejected that offer and asked for something else. Mallam gave a third option as ‘Pampro Krampa’, a bug he claimed was only found on the cocoa pod. This offer was also declined by the five men who were by this time highly frustrated.

Abdul Rahman then suggested that they pay him GH¢500 which they did almost immediately.

Thinking they had gone through it all, the “big five”, probably elated at this time, asked for the $700,000 box; but they were told they had to fast for three days- a condition which must be fulfilled to seal the rituals.

The Mallam further requested two fowls since the five objected to the fasting option.

The five clients hurriedly went to buy two fat foreign poultry fowls but the Mallam rejected the fowls because he wanted local breeds instead.

The enduring “big five” got the local fowls on Tuesday 12 April, 2011, only for Abdul Rahman to say they further needed some supposed protection rings to protect them from any evil attack. The victims, who had run out of patience, however insisted on grabbing the dollar box.

This resulted in a near-commotion, so the Mallam had to invite some number of ‘dwarfs’ to settle the issue; but the five men went mad when the supposed ‘dwarfs’ corroborated the earlier request of Mallam Abdul Rahman.

The ‘angry’ dwarfs hurled insults at them and later vanished into thin air.

The “big five” then forced the supposed dollar box open but there was not even a pesewa in it.

They then arrested Mallam Abdul Rahman, together with the fowls, and handed him over to the police at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters.

The case has since been referred to the Vetting and Crime Analysis (VCA) Unit of the CID, whose Director, Chief/Supt. Denis Abade, confirmed the story to DAILY GUIDE and said his outfit would go after the supposed dwarfs, who were accomplices in the case, to face the law.

The police boss stressed that the culprits would be arraigned for defrauding by false pretences after investigations were concluded.