Police Bust Nigerian 419 CON

A NIGERIAN, who masqueraded as a Ghanaian with ID cards and a driving license and together with some accomplices defrauded a Canadian of US$90,000, has been arrested and is to appear before court soon.

The Nigerian, Nse Basse, also known as Kojo Williams, James E. Appiah and Immanuel S. Imeh, succeeded in defrauding the Canadian, Mr. Masuod Ghasemi Monfared through the 'Advance Fee Fraud', commonly known as 419.

According to sources at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police, the Nigerian under the guise of being a Ghanaian, used various ID cards and driving licenses to withdraw various sums of money through the Western Union Money Transfer, some from Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Access Financial Services, the parent company of Western Union in Ghana.

According to the Police, on 20th September last year, Mr. Monfared, the 54-year old Canadian, called at the CID Headquarters and reported having been defrauded to the tune of US$90,000 by one Victor Item and Kojo Williams.

On receipt of the complaint, the Police mounted surveillance on the suspect, Kojo Williams or Nse Basse and on 4th December last year, the suspect was arrested at the Standard Trust Bank, Accra when he went there to collect another US$270,000 from the complainant.

A search conducted on him disclosed one Nigerian passport number A3312578A bearing the name of Nse Basse and a Ghanaian drivers license number 00470007 issued on 5/08/04 bearing the name Emmanuel S. Imeh, bearing the suspect Nse Basse's photograph.

During interrogation, suspect Nse Basse admitted having defrauded the complainant to the tune of US$50,000 and indicated that he was engaged by one James and Daniel, both Nigerians in December, 2005 and that he was told by James that the Canadian would call to ascertain of a treasury of US$6.5 million with a security company in Ghana by name Alliance Security Company, which he obliged to confirm to the Canadian.

The Police source said investigations revealed that the complainant, a businessman, received series of phone calls during the month of December, 2005 from suspects Basse alias Kojo Williams and Inyang Edem alias Victor Item, now at large to the effect that, he Kojo Williams had an amount ofUS$6.5 million with a security company in Ghana by name Alliance Security Company and that before this money could be released, they needed a clearance certificate from Ghana's Narcotic Control Board which involved money.

As a result, Basse started receiving remittance in various currencies from the Canadian to the tune of US$50,000.

The Police said in October last year, Basse and his accomplices finally lured Mr. Monfared into the country to have the alleged documents signed. On arrival in the country, Basse and his accomplice, Inyang Edem met the victim at the airport and took him to a hotel.

Even in Ghana, Edem as part of the booty, also succeeded in collecting a cash of US$40,000 from the complainant under the pretext of paying for the alleged documents.