2 In court for 100kg gold theft

Two persons who allegedly stole 100 kilogrammes of gold valued at $5.8 million have been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court.

The accused persons — Seth Owusu, a Ghanaian, and Bachiro Pafadnam, a Burkinabe — appeared before the court, presided over by Mr Emmanuel Essandoh yesterday. The accused pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit crime, stealing and money laundering.

They were granted bail in the sum of GH¢1.6 million with two sureties each.

As part of the bail conditions, the accused persons must have one common surety earning not less than GH¢1,000 a month.

An accomplice in the case, Abubakar Sadick, is currently at large.

Hearing continues on October 7. 

Facts

The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sylvester Asare, told the court that the complainant, Raymond Turkson Kobina, was a businessman.

He said Sadick was an employee of the complainant who resided in the same house with the complainant.

ASP Asare said in July this year, Turkson, in the company of Sadick, took delivery of 100kg of gold sourced from various miners awaiting prospective buyers.

The prosecutor said the complainant kept the 100kg of gold in one of the rooms in his house with the knowledge of Sadick.

He said on July 26, 2020, Sadick — without the knowledge of the complainant — left home after which the complainant detected that the gold, valued at the equivalent of GH¢31,900,000, which was kept in the room, was missing.

He said the case was reported to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, and several calls to Sadick went unanswered.

Some gold refiners were consequently alerted of the missing gold.

ASP Asare said later the complainant was informed that Pafadnam had been spotted at a refinery with the gold, which led to Pafadnam's arrest.

He said during investigations, Pafadnam admitted his complicity and mentioned Owusu and Sadick as his accomplices.

Sadick allegedly sent the stolen gold to the Burkinabe.

“Pafadnam also led the Police to arrest Owusu,” the prosecutor told the court.

Investigations

ASP Asare added that police investigations revealed that Owusu, who lives at Gbawe, led Pafadnam to ITALTEC Ghana Limited, a gold dealing concern, to sell the gold which he had stolen from the complainant.

He said it was further established that the accused persons successfully caused five kilogrammes out of the 100kg of the gold to be shipped to Dubai by ITALTEC Company Limited.