[ 2017-05-26 ]

The suspects: Courage Boadi (left) and Michael

EOCO rescues seven girls
The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has
arrested two persons for allegedly attempting to
traffick seven girls to Jordan in the Middle
East.

Courage Boadi, a travel and tours operator, and
Michael Akantoganya, a self-styled businessman,
were picked up at the Kotoka International Airport
(KIA) last Monday, as they were facilitating
departure formalities for the victims.

The Deputy Executive Director of EOCO, Mr Walter
Amewu, told journalists in Accra that the suspects
were arrested with the assistance of personnel of
Aviation Security and the Ghana Immigration
Service (GIS).

Intelligence

Narrating how the suspects were arrested, he said
EOCO picked up intelligence that some persons were
facilitating the trafficking of girls to Jordan.

He said EOCO alerted its surveillance unit when
the organisation got the victims’ schedule of
travel.

Based on that, he said, the Aviation Security and
the GIS were notified to be on the alert at the
KIA.

He said the suspects and the victims were
subsequently arrested while the girls were going
through departure formalities.

Police take over

Mr Amewu said the suspects and the victims had
been handed over to the Anti-Human Trafficking
Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department
(CID) of the Ghana Police Service for further
investigations.

When contacted, the Head of the Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit of the CID, Superintendent Mike
Baah, confirmed that the unit had taken over
investigations into the case.

He said the principal suspect, Boadi, who operated
Boving Travel and Tours, a travel and tours
company, was allegedly engaged in an illegal
business because he was using the company to
operate as a private recruitment agency without
licence from the Ministry of Employment and Labour
Relations.

Supt Baah indicated that the police were making
efforts to reunite the victims with their
families.

Tier two

Ghana has been on the Tier Two Watch List of the
United States for the past two years because of
its poor performance in the fight against human
trafficking.

A third consecutive year of appearance on the list
could make the US government withdraw its
financial and other logistic support for the
country.

Source - Graphic.com.gh

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