Eight men were arrested by the Ghana Police Service on Friday after a 21‑year‑old man was beaten during his initiation into an internet fraud operation in Kotokrom, Sunyani West Municipality, Bono Region.
The arrests followed a distress call received by the Bono Regional Police Command on October 4, reporting that a group of people were attacking a man in the town. Police officers who responded found the victim, identified as Godstime Umukoro, with multiple marks of assault and detained the suspects on the scene.
The suspects are identified as Peter Mbam (24), Godwin Moses (26), Humble Oweifah (18), Osas Ogbemudia (30), Samuel Aisosa (22), Ashile Godbess (24), Alexander Uyuo (30) and Patrick Romans (25). They told investigators they had severely beaten Mr Umukoro as part of his initiation into the fraud operation, a process they claimed to have undergone themselves.
Preliminary investigations indicate the suspects were brought to Ghana by a man identified as Nwachukwu King Augustine, whom the police described as their chairman. Police also alleged the group used downloaded images of foreign military personnel to deceive people online, posing as military personnel on the front lines in Yemen, engaging targets in conversation and soliciting money.
Money allegedly obtained from victims was paid into an account belonging to the group’s alleged leader, according to the police. The Bono Regional Police Command thanked members of the public for their intervention and reaffirmed its commitment to working with the community to combat crime in the region.
