3 Paddies Nabbed for Oil Fraud

Three persons suspected to be members of an oil syndicate have been nabbed by officers from the Vetting and Crime Analysis (VCA) Unit at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Accra. The suspects, Harry Medenu, 32, Daniel Appiah, 27 and Emmanuel Owusu, 42, were arrested on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 when they tried to dupe one Gilbert Tettey, whose brother suffered similar fate earlier. The unsuspecting victim, who had knowledge of the fraud scheme due to his brother�s experience, feigned interest in the deal and alerted the police who ambushed the suspects and arrested them when they showed up at a joint at Darkuman, a suburb of Accra. The Director VCA, Chief Superintendent Denis Abade told DAILY GUIDE that a certain Samuel, believed to be a member of the syndicate in the month of April, contacted a brother of Gilbert and introduced himself as a worker at the Jubilee Fields in Cape Three Point in the Western region. Samuel explained that his office was in dire need of a product called oil pipe socket used in drilling crude oil, adding that the victim could make a lot of profit from the supply of the product to his company. The said fraudster further introduced a white man by name Smith and a supposed engineer known only as Philip as well as a certain Alhaji to Gilbert�s brother (victim). Together they managed to convince their victim who bought a sample at the cost of GH�400 and resold it to Smith (the white man) at the cost of GH�500. Smith was happy with the quality of the so-called oil pipe socket and asked the victim to get him more of the �fake� product. The unsuspecting victim mobilized GH�20,000 to order for a box of the oil pipe socket. Another person sent by Alhaji (a member of the group) who is currently on the run was assigned to take the money. After collecting GH�20,000 from the victim, he presented a box of oil pipe socket to him. But luck eluded the victim since there was no buyer and the contact of Smith (white man) went off as well as that of Alhaji and Samuel.He suddenly realized that all the people he was dealing with were fraudsters. Few days later, one of the victim�s siblings (Gilbert) who is now the complainant in the case, called Samuel�s number. Samuel insisted they were acquaintances and further introduced the same business to the complainant without knowing that his brother was duped of GH�20,000 by the fraudsters. Complainant feigned interest and reported the matter to the police who placed surveillance on the group and managed to arrest the three. Though Daniel Appiah, driver of Tata taxi cab number GS 5387 Y, insisted he was only hired by one of the suspects, the police are holding all three persons in the CID cells in order to complete investigations. The police chief is pleading with persons who might have suffered as a result of the nefarious activities of the three or know any members of the syndicate to contact the CID Headquarters, VCA Unit to assist in investigations.