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The Inquirer’s trail of the arrest of significant haul of counterfeit money (dollar and cedi wads) and some fake gold bars concealed in twelve 20-foot shipping containers, has affirmed authenticity of the story that found its way first from online news portals and subsequently into a section of the regular media early February.
By Nana Kwame Owusu
“The story is not a hoax. There are sound basis for investigations of the cases we have in hand and we need to solidify the dossier we are building before coming public,” he told The Inquirer.
In a telephone chat with The Inquirer, the day our story broke, and subsequent invitation to Sapeiman, an Accra suburb, where the evidence are under military guard for a clarification, Richard Jakpa, Director of Special Operations at the National Security Secretariat, said, while the national investigations bureau has evidence to show the media and, for that matter, The Inquirer, there are sensitive angles to the story that needed to be protected to strengthen the capabilities of the investigations and limit suspects from running from the arms of the law.
That, he expatiated, is in addition to the fact that some cross border operations are ongoing to strengthen the case of the investigators in effectively providing substance to facilitate prosecution of those involved.
“Wow,” the Inquirer gawked at how one of the accomplices, who is on the run could guise as a car battery repairer and also at their early warning signal, a woman, allegedly operating in a Kiosk. This paper learnt she is currently on bail and reporting to the security agency.
Asked whether the woman, who served as the early-warning-sign to the syndicate was cooperating with the security, Mr. Jakpa answered in the affirmative and added that the investigation is ongoing, therefore, “we cannot divulge everything to you.”
This paper saw the exhibits of counterfeit cedi notes which had not even been cut as well as dollar wads packed in boxes. “You see the Gold, bars? They are all fake. Look at it yourself. You see the dollars, you see the cedi notes, so they are printing fake cedis pushing it into the system and creating inflation for the country. And they have been doing this for a very long time,” the Director of Special Operations at the National Security Secretariat indicated.
“So, you see the containers? Mr. Jakpa asked when he was conducting this paper at the scene where the evidence is kept, and added that, “We have locked them with all their content. Some of them we have not even opened. You see the one that we said contained Charcoal and you didn’t believe. You see the charcoal,” pointing at the Charcoal and explained that, “they use the Charcoal as a decoy. As a decoy, as a front. When they are moving them.”
Recall that this paper reported that our investigations into alleged bust of gold bars and 100-dollar bills in mountains of wads beings smuggled in-and-out of Ghana and into unknown and undisclosed destination shows the arrest could patently be false.
We further reported that intriguingly, not the IGP or Ministry of Interior had since made a public statement on the matter barely 30 days after the arrest, and that it is intriguing, that the nameless and faceless Alhaji is still unidentified, and the loot or contraband valued and sum made public.
But the National Security, in a meeting with The Inquirer has provided clarity with pictorial evidence that enough materials are being put together into a dossier to facilitate prosecution at the appropriate time.
