2 Foreigners jailed for human trafficking - 3 for fraudulent acquisition of passport
The Tema District Court has jailed two foreign nationals after they were found guilty of offences linked to human trafficking and romance scamming.
The two, identified as John Moore, 20, and Charles Bruce, 21 , both Nigerians, were each sentenced to 18 months imprisonment to run concurrently after being found guilty following their arrest and prosecution.
This followed an operation carried out by the Ashaiman Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) during which the two convicts were arrested.
Victims
During the operation, officers of the GIS managed to rescue two victims, Joseph Atungwa and Cletus Tom Emmanuel, who had been lured into Ghana with the promise of lucrative employment by a kingpin, only to be handed over to the convicts for training in online fraud.
The two victims have already been repatriated after the investigations.
Illegal acquisition of passports
In a related development, three foreign nationals have also been convicted by the Tema District Court for falsifying information to acquire Ghanaian documents for passport acquisition.
The three, identified as Yusuf Mohammed, 26, a Nigerian radiographer; Mohammed Ogbona, 32, a Nigerian factory hand, and Nalvine Anne Fonjong, 31, a Camerounian trader — were arrested at the Tema Passport Application Centre when they showed up with Ghanaian birth certificates and identity cards in an attempt to obtain Ghanaian passports.
They have been found guilty by the court and consequently sentenced to 10 years, 15 years and six months imprisonment respectively.
GIS clamp down
The GIS, reacting to the convictions, said it had stepped up its efforts to clamp down on cross border human trafficking as well as immigration-related offences.
It emphasised its commitment to rigorously enforce the country’s immigration laws in the interest of national security and development.
A statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) , Michael Amoako-Atta, reminded everyone that human trafficking and online relationship scamming were serious crimes that were punishable by jail terms when convicted.
He also reminded all foreign nationals in the country that there were legal ways of obtaining Ghanaian citizenship.
"Anyone who attempts to use unlawful means of securing Ghanaian citizenship will therefore be arrested and made to face the full rigours of the law.
"Any foreign national who is desirous of obtaining citizenship should contact the nearest immigration office for such assistance," the statement advised.
