Police arrest two persons in connection with passport fraud

Police in Accra have arrested two persons in connection with passport fraud.

One of the suspects, a Sudanese by name Abdel Moneim Hamad Satti, was arrested at the passport head office with a Ghanaian passport.

The second suspect, George Adjei, was arrested for selling forged passport forms.

He told Joy News his action was influenced by poverty.

According to him, he scanned copies of the original passport forms and stamped them after which he sold them to unsuspecting passport applicants.

He sold it for 100 cedis instead of the original price of 50 cedis.

He said the job is fairly profitable but added he was pushed into the illegal business due to the economic hardships.

He said, in a day, they can get about four or five people buying the forms.

The Director of Passport, Alexander Ntrakwa Grant, is asking other agencies involved in the passport acquisition process to support the passport office to stop foreigners from acquiring Ghanaian passport.

He mentioned the Birth Registry as one of the institutions that have to do proper due diligence.

Explaining the circumstances under which the other suspect was arrested, Mr Grant said Abdel Moneim Hamad Satti, was a bit naive about the consequence of his action.

He had lived in Ghana for a number of years, attended GIS and Ashesi University and thought he was better off with a Ghanaian passport than a Sudanese one.

According to Grant, the Sudanese through a lawyer and other workers at the passport office secured a passport.

When it was time for him to renew it and was asked to bring his birth certificate, he brought a Sudanese birth certificate and was arrested.

Grant said until a person changes his nationality it is illegal for that person to get a Ghanaian passport.

Meanwhile, Mr. Grant said the passport office is fast tracking the process to clear a backlog of passport applications. More than 20,000 applications are yet to be processed.