2 Taxi drivers arrested for defrauding businessman
Two taxi drivers have been detained by the Airport Police for allegedly defrauding a businessman of GH¢47,200.
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Paul Asamoah, 51, and Samuel Lamptey, 35, were arrested after they had delivered fake petrochemical products which they claimed were called ‘OD petrol chemical’, a scarce item needed by engineers at the Jubilee Field in Takoradi in the Western Region.
Their accomplices, including the leader of the syndicate, are currently on the run.
Victim defrauded twice
The Airport District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police Mr Yao Tettega, said the two suspects were arrested about 1 p.m. on February 9, 2015 when Asamoah delivered the items and received payment for them at the Kata Hostel in Accra.
Giving a breakdown, Mr Tettega said the businessman, Mr George Arhin, had been defrauded twice on separate occasions by the same group.
In the first case, he lost GH¢36,200, while he was fleeced GH¢11,000 in the second case.
In the first instance on June 4, 2014, Mr Tettega said, the businessman received a call from an unknown person who introduced the lucrative business of buying oil drilling pipes and selling them to a foreign engineer.
He said the businessman was convinced after a man with a foreign accent had called him and introduced himself as an engineer who needed oil drilling pipes urgently.
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Following a business transaction on phone, Mr Tettega said, the businessman agreed to meet the unknown caller at the Accra Mall.
At the Accra Mall, he said, the unknown caller handed over a metallic object costing GH¢36,200 which the businessman paid for and was expected to resell at twice that price.
However, Mr Tettega said, after the businessman had departed with his money, all the telephone lines which the unknown caller and the white men had used went dead.
Plain clothes policeman
That notwithstanding, the businessman received another call from the unknown caller with a different phone number and introduced the businessman to another oil deal.
“This time the caller said the petrochemical was for GHc11,000 and a white man called to confirm that he needed the product,” Mr Tettega said.
The victim, who had reported the earlier incident to the Airport Police, informed them about the latest development.
He said the businessman feigned interest in the second business deal and agreed to meet the unknown caller to take delivery of the product and make payment at Dzorwulu.
While the businessman was on his way to meet the unknown caller, he received a call from the unknown caller, who said he had to attend to some other businesses and so he had sent a partner to meet the businessman at the Kata Hostel, near Kwashieman.
Unknown to the partner, a plain clothes police man had laid ambush and monitored the movements of Asamoah and Lamptey, who claimed they had been sent by the unknown caller.
After their arrest, Asamoah told the police that he was a taxi driver who had been asked to deliver the box but that his taxi broke down and, therefore, he hired Lamptey’s services.
“Even though they agreed to take the police to the offices of their paymasters, they failed to lead the police to the whereabouts of the unknown caller,” Mr Tettega said.
• Writer’s email: emelia.ennin@graphic.com.gh
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