GhanaWeb FactCheck: Kantanka's photo of an armored car is altered and misleading

Claim:

Auto manufacturing company, Kantanka Automobile Company Ltd, claims to be building an armored bullion van vehicle. The company's Chief Executive Officer, Kwadwo Safo Jnr., however shared an altered image of the vehicle's prototype purporting it to be theirs.

Verdict: The claim is misleading

Explanation:

Crime rates in the country have seen a sudden ascendency, prompting calls for the security in the country to beefed up.

In the last week, two bullion vans carrying money have been attacked, with the first one at Jamestown in Accra, leading to the killing of a police constable on board, and another woman who was caught in the crossfire.

Only yesterday, Thursday, June 17, 2021, another attempt was made on another bullion van on the Accra-Winneba road in the Central region but this was foiled.

The Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, has been speaking, expressing his disgust at how banks continue to provide sub-standard vehicles for them to escort, in the name of bullion vans.

He further threatened that until banks provide them with the standardized bullion vans, he will no longer assign his men to protect those vehicles.

Following this, a photo of a visibly robust vehicle emerged on Twitter and posted by the Chief Executive Officer of the Kantanka Automobile Company Ltd, Kwadwo Safo Jnr, expressing the intention of the automobile manufacturing company to manufacture the new bullion vans.

The tweet read, “@KantankaAuto Armored bullion vehicle. Your money is SECURED with this. The service personnel is SAFE with this.”

@KantankaAuto Armored bullion vehicle. Your money is SECURED with this. The service personnel is SAFE with this. pic.twitter.com/2Nj7xHr4dz

— #KRISTOASAFO@50 (@kwadwosafo_Jnr) June 16, 2021

This was accompanied by the image of what is to be believed to be the prototype of the Kantanka branded bullion van they want to manufacture.

Verification:

To ascertain the claims, GhanaWeb’s FactCheck desk critically analyzed the photo shared by Kwadwo Safo Jnr and have established it was altered to create a misleading impression.

An initial image of the bullion van shared showed the level of altering the photo has undergone.

Among those are the clear positioning of the vehicle in the photo frame, the car tires, the non-coincidental floor markings and positions, and, the makeup of the actual car design.

The initial photo, which is believed to have been altered, also has a logo in a position that has been clearly replaced with the unique logo of the Kantanka brand



Conclusion:

We conclude from this that this photo, as shared by what has been established as the official Twitter page of Kwadwo Safo Jnr, the CEO of the Kantanka Automobile Company Ltd., is misleading and does not show that it is an original design of the company.