Three Men arrested for defrauding a Geologist

THE Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police have in their custody three men who alleged defrauded a geologist GH¢100,000 under the pretext of selling an excavator to him.
The suspects, Steven Darko, 70, Kwabena Asiedu, 38 and Ekow Armah, 32, were arrested at their hideout following a tip off.
A fourth accomplice whose name was given only as Alex is, however, on the run and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the CID, ASP J. B. Darkwa, the complainant is a geologist and owner of a mining site at Anyinam in the Eastern Region.
He said somewhere in September, 2012, an unidentified person yet to be traced went to the victim’s site and told one of his workers that, his brother in the USA had shipped a CL 330 excavator into the country and was offering it for sale.
He said the worker later informed the complainant who expressed interest in buying the excavator and directed that his contact number be given to the supposed owner of the excavator for possible negotiation.
Later the complainant received a call from someone with a foreign phone number who introduced himself as the owner of the excavator and referred the victim to suspect Alex for negotiation. 
The complainant subsequently contacted suspect Alex and after discussions, he was taken to the Tema Harbour where he inspected the excavator. 
ASP Darkwa indicated that Alex quoted the price of the excavator as GH¢210,000 but agreed that the victim should make an initial payment of GH¢110,000 and pay the difference later. 
The complainant agreed to the terms of the transaction so suspect Alex then instructed the victim to make the necessary payment directly to his father in-law, Steven Darko who happens to be a member of the syndicate.
He said on September 3, 2012 suspect Kwabena Asiedu, also a member of the syndicate met the victim and took him to a house at Ashaley Botwe where suspect Steven Darko was already waiting for them for the payment of the money.
He said the complainant paid an amount of GH¢60,000 to Steven Darko in the presence of Kwabena Asiedu and also issued a cheque of GH¢20,000 in addition bringing the total of money paid to the father in law to GH¢80,000.
The PRO said they impressed upon the complainant to cash the GH¢20,000 cheque for them since they don’t want to go through the hassle of cashing money at the bank so he agreed and from Ashaley Botwe, Kwabena Aseidu again accompanied the complainant to the East Legon branch of Fidelity Bank, where the cheque was cashed and handed over to him.
He said complainant was also made to pay another GH¢20,000 to a man supposed to be the agent in respect of payment of custom duties for the clearing of the escavator.
After paying a total of GH¢100,000, the complainant went to the harbour to pick the escavator and was almost arrested by security officials for trying to steal an escavator from the harbour.
He explained to the officials that he had bought the escavator from its owner and showed them documents covering the purchase. It was at this stage that he was told that the escavator does not belong to an individual but a company and that it was not for sale.
It was at this stage that the complainant realised that he had been swindled and when he called all the members of the syndicate they had switched of their phones and had gone into hiding.
When all efforts by the complainant to trace the whereabouts of the suspects failed, he made a report to the police in December last year and following intelligence the police were able to arrest the three suspects on January 4, 2013.
They will be arraigned before court soon after investigations.