3 Fraudsters Grabbed

Eric Amoaku Kwame, Ebenezer Kwesi Mark Andrews and James Martey in police custody

Three men have been arrested by the Odorkor police for allegedly defrauding a businesswoman based at Dunkwa in the Central Region, of GH¢22,000 under the pretext of selling to her 1,000 gallons of palm oil.

The suspects are Eric Amoaku Kwame, a welder from Twifo Ntafraso; Ebenezer Kwesi Mark Andrews 60, an engineer and James Martey, a labourer from Ntafraso.

The three were said to have filled the gallons with water and sold them to the woman as palm oil at Sowutuom, a suburb of Accra.

They are in the custody of the Sowutuom police assisting in investigations.

Briefing DAILY GUIDE , DSP Emmanuel Osei Agboda, the Odorkor District Crime Officer, said the suspects were apprehended on October 2, 2014 at Sowutuom where the purported gallons of oil were being kept in a rented store.

The complainant and trader, Christiana Nyarkoa, declared in her statement that Eric Amoaku called her on telephone to inform her that they had about 1,000 gallons of palm oil in Accra for sale.

The complainant, who claimed she deals in palm oil business, said she became interested and travelled from Dunkwa to Accra to inspect the items that same day.

According to DSP Agboda, Eric met the woman on the way and took her to Ebenezer Mark Andrews, whom he said owned the commodity at Sowutuom.

While they were in the process of bargaining for the price of the oil, Ebenezer Mark Andrews also called James Martey to the scene.

The three agreed to sell the 1,000 gallons of oil to the victim at a total cost of GH¢22,000 which she agreed to and went to inspect the items.

The suspects took the victim to the storeroom where the gallons were being kept and allowed her to inspect only three of the gallons which contained real palm oil.

After making payments for the stuff, the victim, according to DSP Emmanuel Osei Agboda, insisted that she wanted to inspect the content of the rest of the gallons but the suspects refused and that prompted her to call the police for help.

Upon seeing the presence of the police, the three took to their heels but Eric and Ebenezer were apprehended.

When the content of the gallons was inspected by the police, only the three gallons contained palm oil, while the remaining were full of water.

The police later nabbed James Martey, who bolted with the money to Twifo Praso, with the help of the police there.

He has since been brought back to Accra to help the police in their investigations.

When the owner of the store – where the items were kept – was interrogated, she said two men came to her to rent the store for four days to enable them keep the items.

According to the owner, the men said they were to deliver the goods to somebody but their vehicle developed some fault and needed a place to keep the, while they repair the vehicle.

The three suspects have admitted to the act and also mentioned two others, including a woman, as their accomplices.

They would be put before court for fraud.
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 By Linda Tenyah