Abu Trica re-arrested after state withdrew charges

Frederick Kumi, widely known as Abu Trica, has been re-arrested by state authorities barely hours after the High Court struck out his certiorari application challenging proceedings at the Gbese District Court.

Abu Trica is at the centre of an alleged romance fraud case for which the United States has formally requested his extradition from Ghana.

The extradition process had initially been ongoing at the Gbese District Court, where Abu Trica was charged alongside two other persons.

The prosecution later discontinued the case against the co-accused, prompting his lawyers to argue that the conspiracy charge against their client could no longer stand. The District Court agreed and discharged all three accused persons.

Despite that discharge, Abu Trica returned to the High Court seeking to quash aspects of the District Court proceedings through a certiorari application. The Attorney-General’s office opposed the move, arguing that the application had been overtaken by events since the prosecution had been withdrawn and the applicant discharged.

Counsel for Abu Trica, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, insisted that the matter was not merely academic, contending that his client remained in detention despite the discharge, exposing what he described as a troubling gap between the law and its enforcement.

Deputy Attorney-General Dr Justice Srem-Sai countered that if Abu Trica was still being held after the withdrawal of the case, immediate steps would be taken to regularise the situation.

The High Court subsequently struck out the certiorari application, ruling that the issues raised had become moot following the applicant’s discharge at the District Court.

However, shortly after the ruling, Abu Trica was re-arrested, reigniting legal and public scrutiny over the handling of the extradition process and the sequence of events surrounding his detention.