A police officer, a freelance journalist, and a lecturer have been detained by police for one week following an alleged robbery, according to an Accra Circuit Court order.
The alleged perpetrators are accused of robbing several Indian businesses of GHC700,000.00, USD56.450.00, one iPhone 13, one iPhone 12 pro max, one iPhone 11, two iPhone 7, one Infinix phone, an HP laptop, a search Dell laptop, and four Indian passports.
The accused include freelance journalist Madam Helena Teye, police officer Mr. Abednego Bortier, lecturer Mr. Francis Omari, and Elizabeth Teye, who is still at large.
Four Indian passports, laptops, six mobile phones, and money totaling GHC 595,665.00 and USD 45,140.00 were recovered after their detention, according to the prosecution, which was represented by Police Inspector Ebenezer Teye-Okuffo.
Their arguments were rejected by the court, which Mrs. Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie presided over, and the matter was postponed until August 3, 2023.
The trial court further mandated that the complainants receive access to the objects that were seized.
The complainants, according to the prosecution, are four Indian businesspeople who live in Osu: Girish Sachwani, Manish Kumar, Bhosale Vijau Kantilal, and Lalwani Sunil Kumar.
According to the report, Mr. Omari was a tutor at IPMC in Accra, Mr. Bortier was a police officer assigned to the Nima Police Station, and Teye was a freelance journalist.
It stated that the complainants were at their Osu home on July 19, 2023, around 8:00 a.m., when a police officer dressed in a police uniform and the other accused individuals knocked on their door and introduced themselves as a Special Investigation team and said they were there to look into illegal activity, according to the document.
According to the prosecution, the accused then detained the complainants, searched their rooms, and used intimidation and threats to rob them of the aforementioned objects.
The accused individuals then loaded the looted goods into a ready Nissan Sentra saloon car and sped off.
According to the prosecution, the complainants later filed a police report.
According to the report, the police officer who was wearing a uniform during the heist was located, recognized, and then detained.
He admitted to the crime when being questioned, led the police to his home in Dzorwulu, where they were able to recover GH185,105 and USD22,500.00.
According to the prosecution, the police officer revealed that Madam Teye and the lecturer were his collaborators.
It said investigations led to the arrest of the journalist at Legon Gardens on July 22, 2023, and upon interrogation, she told the investigation team that the complainants were engaging in money laundry, which resulted in their action.
It said the team subsequently took her to her house at Lakeside, near Madina, and during a search of her room, GH₵63,800.00 cash was found.
The prosecution said she allegedly told the team that, the money found in her room was what she got as her share of the booty.
It said upon persistent interrogation, she confessed that she took part of the money to her friend at Teshie when she heard of the arrest of the Police Officer.
The prosecution said the journalist then led the Police team to the said friend at Teshie to retrieve GH₵242,100.00 and USS18,640.00.
It said the lecturer was also tracked and arrested at Osu near Danquah Circle and upon his arrest, he confessed to the crime and led the team to his house at Amasaman-Fise where GH₵64.920.00 and USD2.000.00 were retrieved. .
On July 23, 2023, the accused persons led the Police to the crime scene and demonstrated how they succeeded in robbing the complainants.
The prosecution said during the robbery, the accused persons filmed the act and the said videos were retrieved from the laptop of the journalist.
It said accused persons after the act, went to a private residence of the accused Police at La and shared the booty.
The team retrieved a total amount of GH₵595,665.00 and USD45, 140.00 from the accused persons and retained them as exhibits in court.
