Police have identified 5 suspects among 25 rescued persons suspected to be victims of kidnap at New Site, Housing, Effiakuma in the Effia Kwesimintsim municipality of the Western region.
Five suspects; 4 males and a female, were ‘smoked out’ during an initial interrogation with the victim who managed to escape from hostage.
The suspects have been isolated and detained by the police as they continue with interrogations.
The Assembly Member for Effiakuma Zongo, Hamza Mohammed Ameen Adam tells Connect FM’s Abraham Mensah, he had to arrange some food for some of the victims.
In the meantime, the property owner of the apartment where these persons were found is yet to be identified.
Background
One victim of the suspected kidnap managed to break out from their holding area on Sunday, June 1, 2025 afternoon at New Site Housing, Effiakuma. The victim, a male in his late twenties; approached one trader around Effiakuma Zongo hoping to be rescued but because of the language barrier (he spoke French), the trader could not be of help.
Luckily, one young man, Abdul Ganiyu, who was called to the scene identified the language as dyula, a native language in parts of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Mali. The victim narrated to Ganiyu, what could be described as a recruitment scam he and the wife had fallen victim to.
Having gathered some useful leads, Ganiyu notified the Assembly Member for the area, Hamza, who joined him to mobilize some men from the neighborhood to rescue the rest of the victims.
The ‘escapee’ led them to their place of hostage; an eight-bedroom apartment at New Site-Housing, near the Takoradi Technical University main campus.
The main entrance was locked, and so were the rooms. The rescue team managed to break into the house where they met the victims all standing upright and shivering in fear. They looked lean and pale. Six of them were females.
There were no mattresses in the rooms but just their luggage, some talisman and other voodoo artifacts littered around.
They could not confirm how long they had been held in the apartment. Strangely, none of the residents had suspected their presence in the neighborhood until today.
The police are yet to identify these people, but from their interactions, it is believed they are from neighboring Cote D’Ivoire, as one of the victims requested to place call to the mother there.
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By Abraham Mensah|ConnectFM|Takoradi
