Mastermind of police recruitment scam arrested
One of the principal architects of the recent police recruitment scam has been arrested.
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Joseph Seidu Awuni, who was arrested at his hideout in Accra on Monday night, is currently assisting the Special Investigations Taskforce (SIT) investigating the scandal that left many desperate youth stranded at various police training schools on February 28, 2015.
Sources within the Police Administration told the Daily Graphic yesterday that Awuni’s arrest was expected to help the work of the SIT, which has been given up to March 20, 2015 to submit its report.
Awuni is said to have been key in organising ‘agents’ across the country and also collecting money from the victims.
This brings to eight the number of persons arrested in connection with the recruitment fraud. Two are police officers, while the rest are civilians.
They are Aisha Asumda, alias Aisha Boku Masi, a 36-year-old shea butter seller; Alifa Adams, alias Abass, a 27-year-old unemployed man; Amos Brown, 40, a radio presenter; General Corporal Gideon Sarpong of the Visibility Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Takoradi; and Constable Ruth Agyiri, 27, of the Central Police Station, Koforidua.
The rest are Pastor Paul Danso from Tarkwa and Richard Harrison, 30.
The Police Administration has expressed its determination to get to the bottom of the matter and appealed to the public, particularly victims of the fraud, to support the SIT in its work.
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The sources reminded the public that recruitment into the Service was not through the use of agents or middlemen and, therefore, appealed to the public to desist from relying on agents or middlemen for recruitment into the service.
Police Council
Last Monday, the Police Council, at an emergency meeting, endorsed the initiative by the Police Administration to arrest all persons involved in the recent police recruitment scam.
Accordingly, it asked the SIT, under the leadership of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to expedite its investigations and submit its report by March 20, 2015.
Recruitment scandal
A recruitment scandal hit the Ghana Police Service on February 28, 2015 when scores of young people thronged some police training schools to begin training.
The investigation by SIT led to the uncovering of what it said was evidence implicating the Director-General of the Human Resource Department of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr Patrick Timbilla.
Mr Timbilla was subsequently interdicted.
Writer’s email:
albert.salia@graphic.com.gh