TWO NABBED FOR PRODUCING FAKE PAYMENT ORDER

14/7/09
Two Nabbed (Commodi)
Story: Mary Mensah
TWO persons who allegedly managed to produce a fake Ghana Commercial Bank payment order and succeeded in withdrawing GH¢27,050 from a bank in Accra have been arrested by the police.
The suspects, Najib Darus, 19, and Ibrahim Lambo, 25, were arrested at their hideout at Maamobi, an Accra suburb, following a tip-off.
A third accomplice, Sylvester Annor Barnieh, 45, who is believed to have masterminded the whole operation, is, however, on the run.
Sylvester was described by the police as a notorious bank fraudster who has about three similar cases currently pending before the law courts.
According to the Commander of the Commercial Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department, Superintendent Yaa Tiwaa, on July 9, 2009, an investigations officer of Ecobank Ghana Limited called at the CID headquarters and reported that Najib Darus together with other accomplices had managed to produce a fake GCB payment order and had presented it to a number of banks including the bank within the metropolis.
They presented four of the fake payment orders to the Osu, Nima, Abeka Lapaz and Haatso branches of the bank and succeeded in withdrawing GH¢27,050.
When the first transaction went through the suspects waited for a few days before striking again and on July 9, 2009, Najib Darus went to the Ring Road branch of the bank to do another transaction.
Unknown to him, the bank had detected that the payment order was fake and had alerted its branches to be on the lookout for the criminals.
The commander said as soon as he presented the payment order, the bank called the police and a team of detectives led by ASP Ebenezer Nketiah were detailed to the bank and they had Najib arrested.
He told the detectives that he was given the fake payment order by one Ibrahim who lived at Maamobi and led the police there where he was also arrested.
Ibrahim confirmed giving the payment order to Najib and mentioned Sylvester and one Baba as the main sources of the orders and explained that anytime they cashed money they were given GH¢1,000 for their services.