Manasseh Azure Awuni is an investigative journalist
Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has indicated that the arrest and detention of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was a targeted operation.
In a detailed post on his Facebook page on Saturday, January 10, 2026, Manasseh Azure stated that Ofori-Atta was apprehended by ICE agents as he emerged from his apartment.
AG Ayine confirms Ofori-Atta arrest was due to extradition request
He further revealed that, according to his sources, the former minister was surrounded, placed in a vehicle, and taken to a detention facility, where he is currently being held.
“… The operation to arrest him, according to sources, appeared targeted, unlike the ongoing raids and swoops at factories and public places where mass arrests by ICE are conducted.
“Ken Ofori-Atta was emerging from a magnificent luxury apartment building, where he had been living in the US, when agents surrounded him, led him into a vehicle, and drove him away to a detention facility 89 miles away. He was driven to the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia, about an hour and a half drive from where he was arrested,” Azure shared.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has confirmed that the arrest of the former Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, by ICE agents in the United States was due to his extradition request.
According to Dr Ayine, the US State Department revoked Ofori-Atta’s visa in July (sic) and gave him until November 29 to leave the country. His failure to comply prompted enforcement action.
AG drops details of confidential conversation he had with ‘top’ US lawyers of Ofori-Atta
“The visa was actually revoked. So, it’s not that Ofori-Atta overstayed. So, in July, the American State Department revoked his visa, and they gave him up to November 29 (sic) to leave the United States. He did not. And then, that is how come that they decided they were going to now pursue him, and arrest him.
“Actually, the arrest was supposed to occur on January 4th [2026], and they did not do so, but on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, they apprehended him in the Virginia area and took him into custody,” he explained.
MAG/AE
