Gold Scammers Caged

Four out of a six-man gang who allegedly defrauded a businessman, Nizar Naji Mohammed Alassaf, General Manager of

Comextex Group of Companies based in Dubai, have been charged by an Accra circuit court.

They purportedly told him that they could   supply him with 13 kilograms of gold worth $325,000.

They are Mark Kojo Conry aka Alhassan; Mark Conry, unemployed; Aikins Amenho, computer technician; Richard Obeng Osei aka Opuni, Consultant and Koffi Amehuon aka Ali Abu, small scale miner.

The police are also on the heels of two others -Emmanuel Kwesi Dotse and Samuel Kofi Grant Kontoh – both businessmen who are currently on the run.

 
Charges
The prosecution, led by Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka, told the court that on June 29, this year, at East Legion in Accra, the six conspired to defraud Naji and defrauded him by false pretences.

The alleged gangsters have also been slapped with two other charges of conspiracy to defraud and attempting to commit crime on August 12, 2016 at East Legion.

Before trial judge Aboagye Tandoh, the four accused persons (speaking in Twi and English languages), variously denied the charges and were remanded until August 30 for the court to decide whether or not to grant them bail.

The court said it was also to afford the prosecution ample time to continue its investigation into the case.

 
Bail
This was after it had differed ruling on the fervent appeal for bail filed by ACP (Rtd.) K. K. Amoah, counsel for the accused persons.

He said even before his client would appear in court, their faces had been widely published in the media and had been found guilty prior to the hearing.

The senior legal practitioner was emphatic that his clients would always be available in court to stand trial.

According to the police, during the month of June 2016, Dotse and Kontoh were introduced to Naji by one Dardi, who is based in Dubai, as small scale miners. They told the complainant that they had some gold they were selling and he (complainant) expressed interest in buying it.

On June 28, this year, Naji came to Ghana, met Dotse and Kontoh on June 29 and they took him to Italtec Ghana Limited, where he met Alhassan and together they showed Naji a metallic box which they claimed contained 11 bars of Gold.

Dotse had in his hand two bars of metal coated yellowish which all three accused persons claimed were part of the 11 bars of gold in the metallic box, after examining them.

The prosecution said Naji was asked by the assayer to go to the accountant – who was in another office – and pay for the cost of the assay report, but unknown to Naji, Alhassan, Dotse and Kontoh swapped the gold which was assayed, with some coated yellowish metals and kept them in a locked metallic box and gave same to the complainant.

The three took Naji back to his hotel where he paid $325,000.00 to the accused persons and Kontoh told him to wait whiles he deposited the money at the bank.

After several hours, the accused persons were not returning. Calls and messages sent to them by Naji yielded no fruit.

Complainant became suspicious and when he broke the

box to check the content, he realised he had been duped as items in it were 13 coated metals.

Complainant pretended everything was alright and left for Dubai.

Soon after he had left, Alhassan and Ali Abu contacted him again with a different phone number, telling him they had some gold and asked if he was interested in buying it. Complainant feigned interest, returned to Ghana and alerted the police, leading to their arrest.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson 
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