The seven Nigerians were locked up and starved when they refused to obey the traffickers
The Ghana Police Service on Friday, October 10, 2025, announced the three suspects of a notorious human trafficking and cyber fraud syndicate operating at Peace Land in Ashaiman, a community in the Greater Accra Region.
The police, in a statement issued on Friday, also disclosed that they rescued up to seven Nigerian nationals who were trafficked to Ghana by the syndicate.
The victims were lured into Ghana with promises of construction work, but after they arrived, they were forced into romance fraud.
“The suspects, identified as Peter Okoye (36), a computer engineer, Jolly Ezekiel (30), and Jolly Shadrack (33), are alleged to have lured their victims from Nigeria into Ghana under the pretence of offering them construction work in Tema. Upon arrival, the victims were taken to a house at Peace Land, Ashaiman, where they were confined and forced into internet fraud activities,” the police said.
The victims told the police that each of them was “provided with a laptop and trained to create fake romantic relationships with unsuspecting persons in some foreign countries, to defraud them of money” after they arrived in Ghana.
The police also stated that the trafficked Nigerians who refused to engage in the scam were treated inhumanely by the members of the syndicate.
Some of the victims who refused were denied food and locked in small rooms for days, the statement indicated.
“Investigations revealed that the victims were subjected to severe beatings and compelled to swear oaths of allegiance to their captors. Those who refused to participate in the fraudulent schemes were locked in a small room measuring approximately 10×12 feet, deprived of food, freedom of movement, and basic hygiene for several months.”
The police also stated that their investigations show that the victims were trafficked to Ghana around March 2025.
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“During a follow-up search at the suspects’ residence, the police retrieved items including laptops, routers, mobile phones, household goods, and foodstuffs, which have been retained as exhibits to aid investigations. The victims, who had been confined for about eight months, have since been rescued,” it said.
The police added that the three accused persons have been charged with conspiracy to commit the crimes of human trafficking and fraud.
BAI/SEA
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