MoMo merchant jailed six months for impersonating Public Officer

An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a mobile money merchant, who impersonated a Public Officer.

Mr Richard Sie is said to have impersonated the Oti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Charles Domanban to instruct a Police combat team, who were on duty to release his accomplice, Ismaila Issaka, a Bar attendant from the Police station for committing a crime.

Issaka had in his possession a quantity of Indian hemp and narcotic drugs with a gross weight of 24.66 grams without lawful authority.

Charged with falsely pretending to be a public officer and unlawful possession of narcotic drugs respectively, Sie and Issaka pleaded guilty.

The Court presided over by Mrs Afia Owusuaa Appiah convicted and sentenced Issaka to a fine of 200 penalty equivalents to GH₵2, 400.00 in default, serve six months imprisonment with hard labour.

For Mr Sie, the Court indicated that because of his boldness in impersonating the DCOP of the Ghana Police Service, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour.

The facts as presented by Police Inspector Wisdom Alorwu was that the complainant, in this case, constituted the Police Combat 5 Team stationed at the National Operations Department of the Ghana Police Service while Mr Sie and Issaka were residents of Bush Road, Teshie and Kojo Sardine, La-Accra.

The prosecution said, the combat team on May 29, 2023, whilst on duty around Teshie Bush Road decided to conduct random search on occupants of vehicles within their area of responsibility.

It said whilst conducting the search, an uber car with Issaka on board was stopped for the occupants to be searched and the search revealed a quantity of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp in the bag of Issaka.

The prosecution said the team immediately placed him under arrest.
It said Issaka pleaded with one Richard Gameli Zormelo, another passenger in the uber car, to use his phone to call Mr Sie so he could inform him about his arrest.

The prosecution said Mr Sie upon receipt of the call and having been briefed instructed that the phone should be handed over to the leader of the combat team and when that was done, he identified himself as the Oti Regional Police Commander in the person of DCOP, Mr Domanban.

It said Mr Sei demanded that Issaka be released immediately and that his instruction was that of a superior officer to the team.

The prosecution said upon waiting for a while and realizing his orders did not materialize, Sei followed up to Teshie Bush Road to get him released.

It said on arrival, he demanded to know why the team failed to adhere to his instructions where he was arrested for personating the Oti Regional Police Commander.

The prosecution said the dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp were sent to the Police Forensic Laboratory for Forensic Examination and Results.

It said the report proved positive for cannabis with a gross weight of 24.66g.