Four suspects, including two teachers, said to be involved in the kidnapping incident of 30-year-old Bismarck Amo from Assin Fosu, have been arrested by the police.
The arrest of the suspects said to have kidnapped, tortured, and attempted to extort money from the family of Amo followed a coordinated intelligence-led operation, according to the police.
Bismarck Amo was reportedly abducted in Kumasi on September 6, 2026, after he was said to have been lured to travel from Assin Fosu to Kumasi under the pretext that he was going to meet a newly found girlfriend.
A police statement issued on September 14 said it was an operation, code-named "Operation Rescue the Victim and Arrest the Perpetrators," coordinated by the Inspector-General of Police, Christian Tetteh Yohonu, the Central North Regional Police Command, the Anti-Armed Robbery Unit, and specialised personnel from the CID Headquarters and PID Ashanti Region that led to the arrest of the suspects.
The suspects have been named by the police as Mavis Badu Acheampong, 42, a teacher at Kumasi Girls Senior High School and resident of Breman UGC; Charles Doku, 53, a security guard and resident of Breman UGC; Oteng Baffour, 31, an electrician and resident of Breman UGC; and Kenneth Opoku Kwarteng, alias Culture, also a teacher at Kumasi Girls Senior High School.
Preliminary police investigations have revealed that on September 3, the victim [Amo] allegedly defrauded suspect Mavis Badu Acheampong of an unspecified amount of money.
According to the police upon realising she had been defrauded, Mavis allegedly connived with her husband, a senior military officer currently outside the country, and she lured the victim from Assin Fosu to Kumasi via telephone.
Upon his arrival, Mavis, with the assistance of Charles Doku, Oteng Baffour, and others currently at large, forcefully kidnapped Amoh.
The suspects are said to have held the victim hostage at Mavis's private residence from September 6 to September 11, 2026, under severe torture, according to the police.
Even when the family had parted with GH¢19,500 as ransom, the syndicate demanded an additional GH¢30,500 under the explicit threat of executing the victim if the money was not paid. To avoid police tracking, the syndicate used the suspects' own mobile phones for all communications with his family.
While keeping him hostage, the suspects are said to have subjected the victim to acts of violence.
They are said to have stripped him naked, tied his manhood with a rope, and beat him until blood started oozing from both his head and his genitals. The suspects filmed these acts of abuse and sent the videos to the victim's family, the police said.
The victim's family reported the ordeal to the Regional CID in Assin Fosu on September 8 after they had paid the ransom, but the victim was still being held.
The police said on September 11, realising that the police net was closing in, the suspects attempted to transfer the victim to a new, undisclosed location to evade detection.
The police said the kidnappers asked the driver to dump the victim by the roadside but tactical teams intercepted them mid-transit and safely rescued Amoh, who was partially unconscious, with his body drenched in blood and covered in severe bruises.
The victim was taken to a medical facility, where he remains admitted under police escort and medical care, receiving treatment.
All four arrested suspects are in police custody and are being processed for court, according to the police.
The police added that they were actively pursuing the senior military officer involved, alongside all remaining accomplices currently at large.
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Family of suspects narrative
In a video shared on social media, and seen by Graphic Online, a family member of Mavis Badu Acheampong who introduces herself as Afia Adutwumwaa narrates how Amo ended up in Kumasi.
According to Afia Adutwumwaa, who claims to be a sister of Mavis, her sister had first reported losing GH¢44,800 after being defrauded through her mobile money wallet and bank account.
She claims that Mavis received a phone call from a person who posed as an official of MTN Ghana and instructed her to reset her mobile money one-time password (OTP) and provide details linked to her bank card.
She said the incident resulted in GH¢24,800 being taken from Mavis’ mobile money wallet and another GH¢20,000 from her bank account.
Adutwumwaa said the family subsequently engaged people with technical expertise to trace the telephone numbers involved in the transaction.
One of the numbers was allegedly linked to Amo, she said.
She said a woman was then used to arrange contact with Amo under the pretext of a romantic interest.
According to the family account, Amo travelled to Kumasi, where he was confronted over the alleged fraud.
The family said Amo was held for about three days, rather than the five days stated by the police.
She further said the suspects eventually released him and escorted him to the Assin Fosu Police Station, after giving him money to return home.
The family considered the matter resolved at the time, Adutwumwaa said.
