ACCRA– The Ghanaian security service busted a 13-member gang allegedly involved in a fake currency racket in the country, the National Security Secretariat said Monday.
A statement issued by the National Security Secretariat, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the gang, led by one Yassei Alia, a 45-year-old Syrian resident in East Legon, a suburb of Accra and owner of Hardford Auto Service in Accra, together with Danjuma Zakaria, alias Alhaji Mohammed, 49 and resident of Tema West also in Accra were rounded up in a warehouse within the premises of NacCharter Cargo and Freight Company, near KLM offices within the Kotoka International Airport, on Monday, April, 27 at around 1730 hours,.
Freshly printed $10,000 bundles of fake $100 notes concealed in two large metal trunks and a suitcase were retrieved from the warehouse.
The statement said the amount was estimated to be over five million United States Dollars (USD).
“The group’s modus operandi, according to intelligence, suggest that they lure unsuspecting victims with claims that they have access to millions of US dollars in Libya,” the statement said.
“Victims are given genuine sums of US dollars to spend for free, as a proof of the genuineness of the deal.”
It noted that once convinced, victims were requested to deposit huge sums of USD dollars as freight charges to aid the shipment of the said dollars to the victims.
It said upon receipt of amount, the suspects package fake dollars stashed in between a few hundreds of genuine notes, for onward delivery to their victims.
It said officials of National Security had assured Ghanaians that the Government was determined to rid the country of fake currency syndicates and warned that persons involved in the illegality would be arrested and dealt with accordingly.
The National Security has therefore urged the public to report suspicious activities of persons to security agencies to aid their arrest and prosecution.
Meanwhile, investigations continue. Source: Ghana News Agency
