Police arrests technician over fake currency

Benjamin Ayidzoe, a Photo Laboratory Technician, was caught by the police in Adenta, Accra, with a lot of fake local and foreign money.

During a search of Ayidzoe’s house, the police found a Toyota Saloon car with the registration number GR 1830-22, which had a money printing machine, three “Ghana Must Go” bags full of Ghanaian currency of different denominations that were thought to be fake, numerous what were thought to be fake $100 bills, and a blue safe that was shown to the complainant.

They also found 22 shiny metals that might have been fake gold, as well as black pieces of paper cut into the shape of money.

Ayidzoe had to go to court in Accra because he was charged with two counts of having fake money, including bundles of $100 bills.

Ayidzoe, Kingston Jaweah, a 39-year-old administrator, and Foday Kromah, a businessperson, are also being charged with conspiracy to defraud by false pretenses, defrauding by false pretenses, and stealing.

They have said that they are not guilty.

The court, led by Mrs. Evelyn Asamoah, has given them back to the police.
It decided that the accused people should stay in police custody because of the seriousness of the charges, the facts, the fact that they didn’t have a fixed place to live, and the fact that the case was still being looked into.

Even though their lawyers asked the court for bail, the request was denied.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, who was in charge of the prosecution, was against bail because investigations were still going on.

ASP Oppong said that the Police would have to send the evidence to a forensics lab for testing. He also said that the Police would have to talk to the Bank of Ghana.
He said that Liberia should also be looked into.

The prosecution said that the complainant is a student and friend of a Brazilian named Ali Nabil Hamidi.

The prosecution said Jaweah, Kromah, and Ayidzoe are all from Liberia and that Ayidzoe is from Ghana.
It said that the complainant’s friend Hamidi went to Liberia in November 2022 and bought 10 kg of gold for $200,000 from Jaweah’s friend Karama.

The prosecution said that the complainant’s friend Hamidi brought the 10 kg of gold to Ghana on November 3 of this year.

When Hamidi got to Ghana, a member of the Ghana Immigration Service took him into custody because he was there illegally. He was then sent out of the arrival hall.

While the Immigration officer was talking to a colleague, Jaweah and Kromah walked up to Hamidi and said they were government officials in charge of gold export at the Airport.

Again, the prosecution said that the accused told Hamidi that they would process it before sending it to Dubai.

The prosecution said that Ayidzoe drove up in his car out of nowhere and showed Hamidi gold.

The prosecutor said that the three accused people then got $5,230 from Hamidi to pay for the 10 kg of gold at the airport and give it to an Emirates Airline pilot who would send it to Dubai.

The prosecution said that the accused people asked Hamidi to get on the flight to Dubai because they planned to buy gold with the money they got from him.

When Hamidi got to Dubai, he didn’t get the gold. He called the person who made the complaint, who told the police about the situation.

Jaweah said that Kramah and Ayidzoe were their names. The prosecution said that Kramah was arrested on November 7, 2022, at his hotel in McCarthy Hills, where $1,002 was found during a search.

The prosecutor said that Ayidzoe was picked up from the A&C Mall and taken to his home in Adenta on the same day.

When the police searched his home, they found a Toyota Saloon with the license plate number GR 1830-22 that had a money printing machine, three “Ghana Must Go” bags full of Ghana currency of different denominations that they thought were fake, a lot of what they thought were fake $100 bills, and a blue safe that they showed to the person who had called the police.

The police also found 22 shiny metals that they think are fake gold, as well as black pieces of paper cut into the shape of money.

The prosecution also said that the police got $1,800 back from Ayidzoe, who said it was his share of the money he and his partner stole from Hamidi.

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