Burkinabe who posed as OAU representative at PANAFEST arrested
Photographer sentenced for possessing pistol
Driver remanded in custody for smuggling wax prints
Burkinabe who posed as OAU representative at PANAFEST arrested
Cape Coast (Central Region) 5 Aug. ’99
A 26-year-old Burkinabe, who claimed to be a representative of the Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to PANAFEST was on Wednesday remanded in Prison custody.
Songo Ben Chireck Omar, who received "VIP" treatment from the PANAFEST secretariat, would reappear on August nine at a circuit court in Cape Coast for sentencing.
He pleaded guilty to charges of impersonation, forgery, and possessing and altering documents.
The court, presided over by Mr Tom Bentsil, directed the PANAFEST Secretariat to calculate the expenses so far made on Omar, who since July 31, was the guest of PANAFEST.
Prosecuting Police Inspector Henry Tanor, said Omar, who claimed to be a Burkinabe journalist, arrived in the country without travelling documents on July 19, to attend PANAFEST.
Inspector Tanor said Omar introduced himself to officials of the PANAFEST Secretariat as the OAU representative, and has since been their guest.
Inspector Tanor said Omar was first hosted at Oyster Bay Hotel at Elmina and subsequently moved to Fairhill Guest House in Cape Coast at his request.
The prosecutor said on Monday, 2nd August, another person, Charles Mironko from Rwanda, who holds an OAU diplomatic passport, also arrived to represent the OAU secretary-general at PANAFEST.
This aroused the suspicion of officials of the secretariat, and the two men were handed over to the Police to verify and establish their credentials.
During interrogation, Omar confessed that the documents he presented were forged, the prosecutor added.
GRi../
Photographer sentenced for possessing pistol
Accra (Greater Accra) 5 August ’99
An Accra Circuit Tribunal on Wednesday sentenced Mutalabi Seidu, a photographer, to four years' imprisonment in hard labour, for unlawfully possessing a locally manufactured pistol.
Seidu, 22, pleaded guilty to possessing firearm without authority.
The tribunal, chaired by Mr Charles Nyewolema, said he was imposing a deterrent sentence on the accused as a punishment, to serve as a warning to like-minded persons in the light of the spate of armed robbery in the country.
Mr Nyewolema also ordered that the pistol should be confiscated to the state.
According to the prosecution, on July 30, this year, the Police Striking Force Unit, acting upon a tip off went to Tudu, where Seidu was offering a locally manufactured pistol for sale and arrested him.
Seidu was searched on the spot and the pistol was found in his pocket.
In Seidu's statement to the Police, he explained that he found the pistol in a gutter at Maamobi, but decided to send it to Tudu to show to his brother when he was arrested.
Inspector Ohemeng said Seidu failed to identify his brother and refused to give his name to the Police.
GRi../
Driver remanded in custody for smuggling wax prints
Accra (Greater Accra) 5 August ’99
An Accra Circuit Tribunal on Wednesday remanded Braimah Latif, a driver, in Police custody for smuggling nine bales of assorted wax prints into the country.
His plea was not taken. He will appear again on September 13.
The tribunal chaired by Mrs Elizabeth Anderson Yeboah, said Latif was being kept in custody to enable the prosecution to complete its investigations and to arrest the remaining accomplices, who are on the run.
GRi../