Two fined for operating illegal lotto

Kumasi, Sept. 27, GNA - Two persons who were arrested by members of the Department of National Lotteries Task Force for operating illegal lotto, were on Thursday fined 300,000 cedis each by a Kumasi circuit court after pleading guilty to the charge.

Kwame Antwi, 43 and Kwame Koomson, 37, will serve one-year jail sentence each in default.

Police Chief Inspector J.T. Odjidja told the court that in the early part of September, the task force received information that some lotto sellers at Fanti New Town were using plain paper to sell lotto to the general public in the name of Golden Souvenir Lotto and pocketing the money.

He said armed with this information, members of the task force on September 9 went to the lotto kiosks of the accused at Fanti New Town and staked 1,000 cedis lotto to ascertain the authenticity of the information.

Chief Inspector Odjidja said members of the task force again went to the kiosks of the two lotto agents on September 23 and staked 1,000 cedis worth of lotto which numbers were written on plain paper. He said the task force then arrested the two agents and seized the plain booklets on which they wrote the numbers.