We are not aware of Ghana staff involvement in fake US Embassy fraud – Department of State
The US Department of State says it is not aware that any of its staff in Accra is involved in the fake US Embassy fraud operation, pointing out that the legitimate visas were fraudulently obtained.
The US Embassy in Accra sent an email to ghanabusinessnews.com today December 6, 2016, in response to questions on the matter. The Embassy said it received some additional information after yesterday’s Daily Press Briefing in Washington.
The one paragraph statement said, “We are not aware of anyone from our US Embassy in Accra being involved in this fraud operation. The visas were obtained through fraudulent, criminal activity.”
On Friday December 2, ghanabusinessnews.com broke a story of a fake US Embassy that operated in the capital, Accra for 10 years before being discovered on a tip off and closed in a security operation known as “Operation Spartan Vanguard”, by the Regional Security Office which created an international task force composed of the Ghana Police Service, as well as the Bureau of National Investigation, Ghana SWAT, and officials from the Canadian Embassy.
The information announcing the closure said the gang was made up of Turkish and Ghanaian citizens and had an immigration and criminal law attorney working with them.
The information on the shut down of the fake embassy was was however, published on November 2, 2016 and it didn’t say when exactly the operation took place and didn’t identify the people who were arrested.
The information also mentioned that a fake Netherlands Embassy was shut during the operation.
Members of the organized crime gang operated the fake Embassy in Accra where they flew the American flag on the building every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday from 7:30am to 12 noon and issued fraudulently obtained, legitimate US visas, counterfeit visas, false identification documents (including bank records, education records, birth certificates, and others) for a cost of $6,000.
Ghanabusinessnews.com, subsequently did another story suggesting that, the only way the gang could obtain legitimate visas was only possible if they had insider help, and cited some examples.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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