A 31-year-old welder who allegedly duped an Abbosey Okai spare-parts dealer of GH¢8,000 by promising to use supernatural means to double the money into 5,000 US dollars within three days, is in the grips of the James Town Police.

Imuara Halidu also called "Imuara Osman," claimed his inability to obtain the head of a dwarf from Libya to perform the rituals to double the money rendered the deal incomplete and ineffective.

Police Superintendent B. Bakomora, of the James Town District Police, who disclosed these to The Spectator, said sometime in January this year, the complainant (name withheld) got to know the suspect Halidu through a friend.

Suspect Halidu, on two occasions, gave the complainant a lift in his car and the two became acquaintances.

Superintendent Bakomora said the suspect later informed the complainant that he was a powerful spiritualist who helped people out of their financial problems and that he could turn Ghana cedis into dollars.

Halidu later collected GH¢8,000 from the complainant, promising to produce 5,000 US dollars for him within three days.

When complainant gave the money to the suspect, he disappeared.

Complainant later traced Halidu to Walewale in the Northern Region and he took the complainant to a spiritualist and showed him a big bag full of items.

Suspect Halidu insisted that the bag was full of money and would require heavily-built men or "macho men" to carry it to Accra.

At a point when Halidu and the spiritualist went out of the room, complainant opened the bag but discovered to his surprise that it contained rags.

Having realised he has been duped, complainant tasked Halidu to come with him to Accra for further discussions, but Halidu asked him to take the lead as he would get to Accra by spiritual means in 30 minutes and not by road or air.

The complainant later reported the case to the police and started communicating with Halidu on telephone.

Halidu later confessed to complainant that he had spent his money to buy cattle and that he should look for another potential victim who will be duped of GH¢20,000 out of which he can refund his GH¢8,000 to him.

Complainant feigned interest and together with the police they traced Halidu to a hotel in Accra.

In the hotel room, Halidu was found with six talismans four bottles of concoctions and rags among other things.

He told the police that he could not produce the dollars for the accused because he failed to get the head of a dwarf from Libya to finalise the ritual for the dollars to appear.

Suspect Halidu has been remanded in custody by a James Town Circuit court to enable investigations to continue.