Fresh details have emerged in the kidnapping case involving two Ghanaian women trafficked to Nigeria, revealing a sophisticated network of online romance scams, mobile money fraud, and cross-border criminal activity.
According to the Ghana Police Service, the victims — Anastasia Badoo Atta and Serwaa Konadu — were deceived by suspects posing as white men on Facebook. The perpetrators engaged the women in online relationships and eventually convinced them to travel to Nigeria under the pretext of marriage proposals.
“The suspects met the two victims through their Facebook accounts, posed as white men who wanted to marry them, and convinced them to accept the marriage proposal,” said DCOP Lydia Yaako Donkor, Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), during a press briefing in Accra on Tuesday.
She explained that the women travelled separately but arrived at the same location in Nigeria on 22 April 2025. There, they were kidnapped by a suspect identified as Peter Okoye and his accomplices.
“The victims were subjected to severe physical abuse. They were stripped naked, tied up, and assaulted with cutlasses. The abductors covered their heads with black polythene bags and threatened to kill them,” DCOP Donkor added.
The disturbing ordeal was captured on video and sent to the victims’ families, along with a ransom demand of 500,000 Ghana cedis each. In total, DCOP Donkor said GHS18,000 was paid to different phone numbers associated with the suspects.
Police investigations later uncovered a deeper layer of the syndicate’s operations involving mobile money fraud and identity theft.
“Suspect Titus Mba Awuni who is a mobile money agent in Bolgatanga. The suspect has links with one Abdul Mubarick Zakaria, an employee of one of the telecommunication companies who has allegedly given him his official log in credentials and also forward a One Time Pin (OTP) to him which he uses to log in to the SIM Registration App of the mobile company to register subscriber SIM Cards with other people’s Ghana Card details without their consent and sells it at GHC150 each”.
DCOP Donkor confirmed that both the victims and the suspects are currently in the custody of the Nigerian authorities.
“As of today, both suspects and victims are with the Nigerian authorities, and efforts are being made to transport the victims to Ghana and also extradite the suspects to assist investigations,” she stated.
“Information received from our counterparts in Nigeria indicates that both victims are fine. They have received routine medical checks,” she assured.
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