A Mobile Money (MoMo) merchant who impersonated a public official has been imprisoned by an Accra Circuit Court.
Under the guise of Charles Domanban, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) for Oti Regional Police, Mr Richard Sie gave the on-duty police combat team instructions to free his accomplice, the barman Ismaila Issaka, from the police station for committing a crime.
Issaka was found to be in possession of 24.66 grammes of illicit substances and Indian hemp without a valid licence.
Sie and Issaka entered guilty pleas to charges of unlawful possession of narcotic substances and making false claims to be public officials, respectively.
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Under the direction of Mrs. Afia Owusuaa Appiah, the court found Issaka guilty and sentenced him to 200 penalty units, which is equivalent to GH2,400.00 in default, as well as six months of hard labour in jail.
For his audacity and persistence in pretending to be the DCOP of the Ghana Police Service, Sie was found guilty by the court and sentenced to six months in prison and hard labour.
Police Inspector Wisdom Alorwu stated that Sie and Issaka resided on Bush Road in Teshie and Kojo Sardine in La-Accra, respectively, and that the complainant in this case was a member of the Ghana Police Service’s Police Combat 5 Team stationed at the National Operations Department.
As per the prosecution, the combat team chose to conduct arbitrary searches of automobile passengers in their jurisdiction on May 29, 2023, when they were on duty along the Teshie Bush Road.
A quantity of dried leaves believed to be Indian hemp was found in Issaka’s bag, the report stated.
According to the prosecution, the team quickly arrested him.
Issaka reportedly pleaded with Richard Gameli Zormelo, a fellow Uber rider, to use his phone to contact Sie and inform him of his arrest.
After getting the call and being told, the prosecution claims that Sie asked to have the phone transferred to the commander of the combat squad. Once this was done, he identified himself as the Oti Regional Police Commander in the name of DCOP, Mr. Domanban.
The report claims that Sie demanded that Issaka be freed right away and that a higher ranking squad member gave him the order.
The prosecution claims that after some time had passed and Sie realised his orders had not been followed, he proceeded to Teshie Bush Road.
As per the report, upon his arrival, he inquired as to why the crew had not followed his instructions and was taken into custody for pretending to be the Oti Regional Police Commander.
The dried leaves that were thought to be Indian hemp were sent to the Police Forensic Laboratory for forensic examination and results, according to the prosecution.
According to the report, the cannabis tested positive with a gross weight of 24.66 grammes.
