Twenty-seven-year-old Mohammed A. Ganiu alias Mallam Hindu, a self-styled mallam specialized in defrauding unsuspecting persons under the guise of empowering them financially with his charms, has been unmasked by the police in Tamale.
The suspect, currently in police custody and being processed for court, is alleged to have defrauded an Accra-based businessman, Samuel Tamakloe, to the tune of about GH�7,200 under various pretexts.
Narrating his ordeal to Daily Guide, the 41-year-old cold store operator said earlier this year he realized that an extension of his business in Koforidua in the Eastern Region was not improving as expected.
He therefore contacted one Ibrahim to link him to a spiritualist as it was believed that the retrogression in his establishment was a spiritual problem.
Unfortunately the mallam Ibrahim patronised had travelled out of town.
Ibrahim therefore suggested Mallam Hindu to the victim, claiming that he lived in the same vicinity with him and that he was allegedly involved in the same line of business of restoring lost fortunes.
Mr. Tamakloe immediately took the contact number of the self-styled spiritualist and contacted him to help revive his almost-collapsed business.
The victim told Daily Guide that Mallam Hindu indicated that he was in Tamale and directed him to come there. He also asked him to bring along 300 dollars and 20 thousand Ghana cedis, being the cost of spiritual consultation.
A day after arriving in Tamale, the mallam told Mr. Tamakloe he had consulted with the spiritual world in the night. He noted that it was revealed that the victim could not make it in the cold store business because that wasn�t the business he should engage in.
Mallam Hindu claimed the gods were however prepared to make him rich and in a twinkle of an eye charmed three bundles of 100 dollar notes to the victim�s surprise.
He wrapped the money in a white piece of cloth, stuffed it in a bag and handed it over to Tamakloe, instructing him not to open it until at a particular time.
The suspect further warned that should he defy these directives, he would go mad. The victim therefore obeyed these instructions.
Till the appointed time however, the suspect kept taking various sums of money, ranging between GH�500 to GH�1,000, from the businessman, with vague promises to make him rich.
After a couple of weeks, Mallam Hindu visited Mr. Tamakloe in Accra and upon opening the bag, they saw that its contents had turned into stones, to Tamakloe�s utter dismay.
The suspect claimed this wonder was caused by witches and wizards hovering around the victim�s residence, but promised to outwit them.
He again demanded for more cash to enable him purchase some special cologne at Salaga in the East Gonja district to exorcise the powers of witchcraft hampering his activities.
Having received the money, Mallam Hindu gave Mr. Tamakloe a box whose contents were not known and left for Salaga, allegedly to purchase the cologne. The suspect thereafter failed to pick Mr. Tamakloe�s calls.
Sensing he had been duped, Mr. Tamakloe dashed to Tamale but found out Mallam Hindu had gone on official duty in neighbouring Benin, according to his friends.
A complaint was immediately lodged at the Tamale Police Station, leading to the initial arrest of 25-year-old Ibrahim Manan, who helped the police to arrest the suspect.
Sources disclosed that the suspect would be processed for court on a provisional charge of defrauding by false pretence though he rebutted the accusation in his caution statement.
According to him, he was a money lender. He accused the victim of borrowing money from him and refusing to pay.
Checks by Daily Guide showed that several pay slips in Mr. Tamakloe�s possession indicated that he had made payments of various sums into an Amalgamated Bank account with the name Mohammed A. Ganiu.
From Stephen Zoure, Tamale
<<Print>>