Sakawa snakes on bail
Sakawa snake The two snakes that were detained alongside the suspect in the Kokrobite 419/Sakawa case yesterday have been handed over to the Department of Game & Wildlife for safekeeping, pending when they would be needed by the law enforcement agencies.
Before their release, the Nima Divisional Police Commander, ACP Awuni Angwubutoge said, “The reptiles were our over-night guests.”
This suggested that the creepy reptiles were exhibits and technically, being detained as preliminary investigations into the case proceeded.
According to ACP Awuni Angwubutoge, he had to seek the intervention of the Department of Game & Wildlife “since we do not have the facilities to feed and keep them alive”.
The snakes were kept overnight in the chop-boxes in which they were brought to the Nima Police Station.
The arresting squad alongside the Divisional Commander, weathered many odds before finally nabbing the suspect, who wields enormous power in his area of operation where he is virtually a king. Arresting him was therefore no picnic affair, the Police related.
Nana Azumbi aka Motia Father, 20, the suspect, was picked up by the Nima Police after he had allegedly duped a number of complainants with the false promise of doubling their money for them.
The complainants were lured by a running advertisement on Asempa FM station, encouraging people to turn to Motia Father for solution to their financial challenges.
At the time of filing this report, Motia Father had refused to write a statement to the Police as advised by his legal counsel, a certain Lawyer Danso.
Some of the victims of the fraud were Usman Adam, 26, and Mohammed Yakubu, 25, who were defrauded to the tune of GH¢3000 and one Joseph, 37, and Kofi Nyame, 36, of Cape Coast who parted with GH¢3,800.
Another victim who lives in Kasoa lost GH¢4,600 as two others, residents of Accra Newtown and Pig Farm, lost a total of GH¢4,500. Over a dozen persons were said to have related how they fell victim to the suspect.
Confidence tricking, which was what Motia Father relied upon in luring so many persons into his net, is now inter-related to the sakawa phenomenon.
Having now gone esoteric, youth, mostly from areas like Nima, Accra Newtown and elsewhere, travel as far as Benin Republic to seek voodoo intervention in their operations.
Some of these persons are made to sleep in coffins and perform other eerie rituals to enable them to easily hoodwink their unsuspecting victims outside the country.
The voodoo intervention is to enable them to have access to credit numbers and easily sway their foreign prey to their side.
After getting in touch with with their contacts abroad through the internet, they ask for money to ostensibly undertake certain projects.
There have been instances where the sakawa boys manage to lure people from Europe to the country. When these persons arrive, they soon discover that they have been duped.
On one occasion, the sakawa guests abducted their host and demanded ransom from his parents.
Eventually, the Police struck and freed the captive. That was a few years ago; but today, the fraudulent practice has become even more sophisticated, rendering the Police helpless, especially with little or no support from members of the public.
No wonder the Nima Divisional Commander's feat, in stretching out to Weija to undertake an operation, was greeted with excitement and commendation by a cross section of Ghanaians when the news broke.
“With the necessary support from members of the public, we shall reduce to the barest minimum, the incidence of sakawa in our society even in the face of enormous challenges,” he told DAILY GUIDE.
The paper gathered that some of these youth are dying through strange means because the voodoo occults have some dos and don'ts which when violated, will lead to sudden deaths.
While some of them are asked not to bathe for a number of days, weeks or even months, others are ordered to enter their rooms walking backwards.
A lady who got worried about her junior brother's refusal to take his bath, poured water on him to compel him to change his strange lifeclass. To the utter surprise of the household, he screamed, “you've killed me” and dropped to the ground lifeless.