Charity Addo
22 August 2008
The Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Frank Adu Poku, has urged the general public to be vigilant of people they transact business with.
According to him, it had come to the notice of the Police Service, of some emerging crimes such as fraudulent land deals, commercial crimes, fraudulent gold transactions and internet fraud, which have been on the ascendancy in the country.
DCOP Adu Poku noted that the commission of such crimes had led to the establishment of a Property Fraud Unit, at the CID Headquarters, to handle such crimes, and other property related offences.
He indicated that since the inception of the unit about two years ago, it had handled a number of cases bordering on forgery of land documents, altering documents, trespassing and causing unlawful damage to properties.
Citing an example of such cases, he asserted that in April this year, a secretary at the Department of Co-operatives, was duped by a housing agent called Dominic Boateng to the tune of GH¢2600, who was later discovered to be fake.
He further urged the public to be very careful, when dealing with land transactions in the Tema and the Accra metropolis, especially in the areas of Ablekuma, Batsonaa, Oyarifa and Pokuase, since it had been found out that some miscreants, claiming ownership of the lands in the identified areas, indulged in multiple sale of lands, as well as engage the services of "land guards" to protect their acquired interest, through harassments and preventing prospective developers from working on their acquired lands.
DCOP Adu Poku further pointed out that although the police had arrested and prosecuted a great number of these land fraudsters, there was more room for improvement, as he urged the public to go by the legal procedures to acquire land and other properties.
The Director General then attributed the cause of commercial crimes, to the kind of movies the media screened to the public, which he noted, was emulated by the youth, adding that it would be of no use, if the media did not help the police to combat crime in the country.
Stressing on Operation of SEMTA, which begun recently in the Accra and Tema metropolis, DCOP Adu Poku pointed out that the police received information about stolen vehicles from their owners, which was a result of the refusal of owners to register their vehicles.
He indicated that the said police operation, saw 44 cars arrested from their owners, with 16 of them having their numbers tampered with, making the police unable to find their original owners.
He, however, held that the crime rate in the country had declined, as compared to that of the previous years.
DCOP Adu Poku warned the public on a fake website, created by fraudsters to transact business in the name of the Police Service, saying, "we have only one website, that is www.ghanapolice.com, and not www.ghanapoliceservice.com, anyone who does business with this website, does it at his own risk."
He urged the public to report any sort of crime to the police, to help them minimize the crime rate in the country.
"The police are there to help you, not to hurt you," he emphasized.
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