Fraudster in Grips of the Law

A 28-year-old businessman was on Friday remanded into prison custody by an Accra Circuit tribunal for allegedly possessing a fake Ghanaian passport and birth certificate.

Abimola Fuwa, who pleaded not guilty to possession of forged documents, would reappear on April 2.

Police Chief Inspector Benedicta Akolgo told the tribunal chaired by Mr Imoru Ziblim that on March 15 the police was informed that the accused, who also claimed to be a British citizen, had several passports of different nationalities.

The police was informed that he was lodging in a hotel at Osu in Accra.

She said when Fuwa was arrested and a search was conducted in his room a Ghanaian passport and a birth certificate with his picture but in the name of Johnson Kofi Ademani was found. His parents were said to be Benjamin Ademani and Patience Kai Tetteh from Atukpai in Accra.

The suspect is an example of the leading role Nigerians are now playing in Ghana's increasing crime rate. Nigerian suspects are routinely mentioned in violent armed robbery and drug trafficking cases.

Armed robbery, which was quite unknown in Ghana has now become a "growth industry" with Nigerians featuring prominently. Due to this, an element of xenophobia is creeping into Ghanaian minds, with some people even openly declaring that Ghana should tighten its border controls to check arriving Nigerians into the country.

Ghanaian-born ECOWAS Secretary General, Dr. Ibn Chambas, would sooner or later have be confronted with the issue of cross border crime in the sub-region as a major agenda for the attention and action of the member states.