The police have apprehended the suspect behind the theft of $70,000.00 (seventy thousand dollars) from a Nigerien national, just two days after the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno ordered the detention and interdiction of three policemen linked to the investigation.
After the arrest, the police recovered $10,000.00 (ten thousand dollars) and some amount of Ghana Cedis from the suspect, 31-year-old Abdul Munaf Lawal, aka Doctor.
However, our source close to the Accra Regional Police Command, who are conducting an enquiry into the bizarre occurrence, fell short of stating whether the said amount retrieved would be used as part of exhibits that the criminal investigators would rely on to advance their case in court.
The Chronicle is withholding the names of the three policemen for now.
Narrating his ordeal to The Chronicle, a Tema-based 49-year-old Black marketeer, Abdulai Salifu, states that around mid-morning on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 he received a call from Kumasi by a colleague to assist the a client in Accra to acquire $70,000.00 (seventy thousand dollars).
The businessman stated that he asked a colleague, Hamza, who provided ten thousand dollars and another sixty thousand dollars from another, Safianu, and both in turn put together the required amount.
Salifu added that the client, who introduced himself as a staff member of Parliament House, impressed upon him for the business to be transacted at the Legon Campus Branch of ECOBANK, after 18:00 hours the same day since the client claimed that he would close late.
The Nigerien continued that he got to the location around half past six, and later the said client also arrived in a V-8 Land Cruiser, wearing a nose mask, and invited him into the plush vehicle for them to transact the business.
The client, Salifu, told him that even though the bank had closed, he was going to take the amount through the back door for its genuineness to be verified with a counterfeit-detecting machine, which, for unexplained reasons, he accepted.
The client asked him to remain in the vehicle and wait for him with the driver.
Barely ten minutes after he headed to the back of the bank with the dollars, a police patrol vehicle pulled up and the leader of the team, in uniform, got down.
He walked towards the Land Cruiser shouting ‘Doc Doc’, stopped by the driver’s side and enquired about the whereabouts of ‘Doc’, who the officer claimed had called on the phone several times without response.
At this juncture, a man in mufti, wearing a bulletproof vest, opened the V-8 and entered without uttering a word to the occupants.
The driver, seated behind the steering wheel, then reached out for his phone and stated that an Inspector (name being withheld) was around, while the phone was passed on to the said officer allowing them to converse.
Salifu further stated that he remained in the Land Cruiser together with the person in plain clothes, but the driver and the inspector stood aside and had some discussion, after which the officer ordered the driver to move the car and follow his patrol vehicle to the police station.
According to the black market operator, both vehicles stopped a few metres from the Charge Office and all the occupants of both vehicles, including himself, disembarked.
Meanwhile, the three policemen in uniform and the one in a bulletproof vest, together with the Land Cruiser driver, converged and engaged in talks.
Moments later, he saw the driver and the vest-wearing man hurry into the vehicle and start it. As he rushed to also get onboard, they sped off at top speed. Even though he shouted that his money was with those in the car, the police looked on unconcerned.
He reached out to his colleagues and tribesmen, and in no time they stormed the Legon Police Station in a chaotic scene, leading to the District Commander herself coming to the station at that ungodly time.
Both Salifu and his colleagues, together with the three policemen, were paraded before the District Police boss for interrogation, after which Safianu lodged a complaint against Salifu, saying he was rather the owner of the amount which was stolen.
Salifu said he was subsequently detained in cells from 04:00 hours on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 to the night of Thursday, April 10, 2025 before he was granted bail.
On Monday, April 7, 2025 he went to the Police Headquarters to report and was made to petition the Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for action.
The case was referred to the Anti-Armed Robbery Unit the following day, and just before the respected squad could put on their action apparel, the docket was sent from Legon to Accra Regional Police Command.
A source at the summit of police administration who preferred anonymity told The Chronicle that the IGP, Mr Yohuno, literally charged at his men in Accra when his intelligence suggested that the Regional Police Commander had no knowledge of the case but the crime officer was aware.
The deep throat source continued that the new Chief Constable on that same Wednesday night ordered the detention and interdiction of the three police officers, which was carried out to the letter.
On Good Friday, April 18, 2025 barely 48 hours after the issuance of IGP’s fiat, the suspect, Abdul Munaf Lawal, was apprehended by the police.
On Saturday, April 19, 2025 as part of the investigation, he took the detectives to Kumasi, where he claimed that the sixty thousand dollars was spent on gambling.
Stay tuned as The Chronicle tiptoes behind the detectives to unravel the mystery behind the theft.
Source: Thechronicle
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