<<Print>>

The police have arrested a 38-year-old man for allegedly issuing fake temporary driving licence to an unsuspecting customer of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Accra. The transaction for the licence took place at the Accra Regional Office of the DVLA near the 37 Military Hospital about three months ago. Felix Wiafe, the suspect, charged Mr John Kweku, a mechanic and the victim, GH�60 for the service, instead of the official fee of GH�20 which is the cost of a licence. In the process of coming up with the licence, Felix succeeded in forging the signature of Mr Richard Obeng, a licence officer at the Accra Regional Office of the DVLA, to authenticate the deal. Mr Kweku received his licence last week Wednesday, November 5, 2014 . However, his attention was drawn to some features on the licence which were believed to be fake. Under the circumstances, he reported the matter to the Legon Police. Checks at the DVLA office by the police showed that the licence was fake. The police, therefore, arranged with Mr Kweku to call Felix and tell him a friend of his also wanted a licence. When Felix was informed of the purported deal, he asked Mr Kweku and his friend to meet him behind the DVLA office near the 37 Military Hospital. A police officer in mufti, who posed as the one interested in acquiring a driving licence, arrested Felix during the course of negotiations. Confession Felix admitted upon interrogation in the office of the Accra Regional Manager of the DVLA, Mr Noah Tetteh Matey, to have issued the fake driving licence to Mr Kweku. He said the fake licence was produced by a man named Issah. However, when he was asked where the said Issah could be located, he said Issah had travelled and he did not know when he was coming back. Victim Mr Kweku for his part said Felix was introduced to him by a friend as someone who could help him acquire a driving licence. He said Felix�s decision to take a portrait of him without his medicated eye glasses was what raised suspicion regarding the genuineness of the document. DVLA Mr Martey said the recent swoop the police and the DVLA carried out at the regional office of the DVLA had forced middlemen in the business of issuing fake licences to change their tactics. He said the middlemen, referred to as �goro boys�, had devised means of printing fake driving licences which they gave to unsuspecting people. Mr Martey said the matter was serious because money that was meant to go into state coffers from fees charged for the acquisition of driving licence and vehicle registration rather went into private pockets. He has advised the public therefore to go to the offices of the DVLA for driving licence and vehicle registration instead of dealing with �goro� boys.