The Government of Ghana is collaborating with the Ivorian immigration authorities to rescue and repatriate over 200 Ghanaians, who are held in secluded places in the Ivory Coast.
Currently, over 700 Ghanaians are held hostage in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, and Togo after being scammed by QNET Group’s activities.
The victims were lured to Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and other West African States by QNET Group, who scammed them under the pretext of processing their visas and other travelling documents in the West African countries, and used those countries as transit to their final destinations in France, Canada, Belgium and Qatar.
Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, made this known on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday when responding to an urgent question posed by Mr Kwaku Buah, the Member of Parliament for Pru East, on measures the government was undertaking to rescue and repatriate Ghanaians trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire by QNET Group.
The minister said, so far, the government had successfully rescued and repatriated 400 Ghanaians who were trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin and Togo since 2021 to date.
He said, currently, there were over 500 Ghanaians between 20 and 40 years old held hostage in Cote d’Ivoire and 202 in Nigeria.
The victims paid between GHc18,000 and GHc35,000 and GHc30,000 and GHc40,000 to the QNET scammers with the promise of processing their travel documents in the West African country and using Cote d’Ivoire as a transit to Europe, North America and Asia countries, the Minister stated.
Mr Ablakwa further stated that Ghana’s diplomatic missions in those countries were collaborating with immigration authorities and Interpol to help rescue the victims and apprehend the fraudsters.
“The Ghanaian embassies and diplomatic missions in those countries are providing consular services to the victims,” Mr Ablakwa stated.
The minister said that from September this year, the Ministry, in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), would organise sensitisation events across the country to create awareness about the QNET fraudulent activities.
The minister said that, so far, no arrests had been made regarding the scammers involved in the fraudulent scheme and urged the public to contact the Ministry with vital information that could lead to an arrest.
