The Ghana Police Service has confirmed the rescue of seventy-six Ghanaian nationals who were trafficked to Nigeria under a fraudulent recruitment scheme linked to the operations of QNET.
The Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Lydia Yaako Donkor disclosed this at a press briefing held in Accra on Monday, June 30, 2025.
According to DCOP Donkor, the victims were lured with false promises of employment in Europe and Canada, football contracts abroad or assistance with visa processing.
DCOP Lydia Donkor said the victims were rescued in different states in Nigeria and the operations were carried out between May 19, 2025 and June 27 2025 in partnership with Interpol and Nigerian law enforcement agencies.
Thirty victims were rescued in Akwa Ibom State on May 19, while fifteen more were rescued in Oyo on June 22. Seven Ghanaian suspects linked to the trafficking network were arrested in Nigeria and remain in custody.
“The suspects are in the custody of the Nigerian police, assisting investigations and subsequent prosecution. The Ghana Police Service is working to reunite the rescue victims with their families in Ghana,” DCOP Donkor noted.
The victims who were nurses, teachers, students, artisans and university students were kept in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions. Their mobile phones and travel documents were seized upon arrival, and they were placed under strict surveillance.
According to police, they were forced to contact family members in Ghana to solicit money under the pretext of paying training or facilitation fees.
She also disclosed that between May 6 to 26, the Ghana Police Service rescued 48 victims who are nationals of Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Cameroun and Guinea.
All the victims have been sent back to their respective countries and reunited with their families.
Two suspects from Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire have been arrested and are in custody assisting with investigations.
QNET, the company at the centre of the recruitment scam, is a network marketing firm whose operations in Ghana were dissolved by an Accra High Court in July 2022.
The dissolution followed a petition by the then Attorney-General, who accused the company of engaging in illegal and deceptive practices similar to a Ponzi scheme.
DCOP Donkor warned that anyone involved in recruiting, transporting, or harbouring persons under such fraudulent operations would be prosecuted under Ghana’s Anti-Human Trafficking Act (Act 694) and the Criminal Code (Act 29).
“The psychological and economic harm caused to these victims and their families is devastating,” she said. She also urged Ghanaians to be extremely cautious about offers of overseas jobs or training that require upfront payments or undocumented arrangements.
Efforts are currently underway to repatriate the rescued individuals and reunite them with their families in Ghana.
The CID also revealed that other suspects connected to the same trafficking ring, but arrested in Ghana, are currently before the courts.
