Ghana Police arrest fake Nigerian surgeon
A Nigerian who was arrested by the police for defrauding by false pretences also had in his possession medical items indicating that he was a surgeon at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
The suspect had in his possession a Ghana Medical Association (GMA) ID card bearing the name Dr Emmanuel Ikechukwu Okorafor, Surgeon, a white clinical coat worn by doctors, with a Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital crest on the front pocket, a stethoscope and other medical gadgets.
In addition, Okorafor had two Ghanaian passports bearing two different Ghanaian names, with his pictures embossed on them.
According to the Deputy Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Vincent Dedjoe, the suspect was arrested on March 28, 2012 following a report made by a worker at the Prestea branch of the Ghana Grid Company, Micheal Quasi.
He said in early March the victim had a call from a man who introduced himself as an engineer working at Anadarko Oil E&P Limited, an oil drilling company currently operating at Cape Three Points.
The caller, who gave his name as Henry, told the victim that he wanted to do a business that would fetch him a huge profit within the shortest possible time.
He said Okorafor then told the victim that the company was in dire need of drilling oil rings which are used for the drilling of oil on the rig and it needed someone to supply the rings as soon as possible.
He then advised the victim that he would need to show a sample of the oil drilling rings to his boss, an expatriate by name Dr Smith who was currently in town purposely for the purchase of the rings, and directed him to another lady at Madina who was said to be the supplier of the rings.
The victim called the woman at Madina, who informed him that one ring was sold for $4,500, which could be resold for $5,500, thereby making a profit of $1,000 on one ring, and later directed him to deposit GH¢15,000 for two samples of the product to be shown to Dr Smith at his hotel at the Airport Residential Area in Accra.
The victim consequently withdrew GH¢3,000 from his bank account and borrowed GH¢12,000 from friends and relatives and deposited it in an account at the Stanbic Bank, as directed by the woman.
After that transaction, the woman switched off her phone and when all efforts to locate her failed, the victim called the suspect, who directed the victim to look for $11,000 and deposit it in another account at the Weija branch of the National Investment Bank.
He even went ahead to advise the victim to sell his house, if he owned one, or any other possession to raise the amount because that was a chance of a lifetime. But at that stage, the victim realised that the people were out to defraud him and so he reported the incident to the police.
The police advised him to inform the engineer that he had been able to raise the $11,000 and deposited same into the account.
Soon after receiving the message, Okorafor drove in his white Honda saloon car, with registration number GW 344 X, to withdraw the money but he was arrested by the police, who had laid ambush for him.
Source: Daily Graphic