Five persons have been put before an Accra Circuit for allegedly forging and selling fake driver vehicle licenses to unsuspecting vehicle owners.
The suspects, one female and four males, according to the prosecution, were caught selling forged Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority’s (DVLA) newly enhanced road worthiness stickers in Accra.
They are Naa Dei, typist; Kingsley Opare, footballer; Edward Yeboah Kusi, self-employed; Owiredu Richard, mobile money operator and Juliet Baidoo, typist.
The five who were arrested at various spots had in their possession a total of 60 vehicle registration certificates, 519 copies of ‘DVLA’ receipts, 15 copies of road worthiness stickers, two laptop computers, a printer and a cash amount of GH?415.
The suspects are facing six counts of conspiracy to commit crime, forgery of official document and possession of forged document to which they all pleaded not guilty.
Their lawyer prayed the court to grant them bail while the case goes to trial.
The court presided over by a relieving judge, Mrs. Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku granted them bail in the sum of GH?20,000 with three sureties each to reappear on May 9, 2018.
Police prosecutor, Chief Inspector Dennis Tekpetey presenting the facts to the court said the complainant is the Chief Executive Officer of DVLA.
He said, on January 2, 2018, DVLA launched a new road worthiness sticker with enhanced security features throughout the country with the view of preventing forgery by ‘Goro boys’.
He stated that two weeks after the introduction of the new stickers, the authority, through its internal intelligence, found that the Goro boys had begun forging the new road worthiness stickers and selling them to unsuspecting vehicle owners leading to a compromise on road safety and causing revenue loss to the state.
Chief Inspector Tekpetey told the court that following the development, management of DVLA reported the matter to the Accra Regional Police Command.
“Subsequently on February 5, 2018 about 2 pm, the command dispatched detectives to the DVLA office at 37 in Accra and arrested Naa Dei, Kingsley Opare, and Edward Yeboah Kusi from a container and other spots”, the prosecutor said.
He narrated that a search conducted in their containers disclosed 51 vehicle registration certificates, 519 copies of ‘DVLA’ receipts, 15 copies of road worthiness stickers, two laptop computers, a printer and a cash amount of GH?415.00.
Chief Inspector Tekpetey added that on February 6, 2018, Owiredu Richard and Juliet Baidoo were also arrested in a container and eight vehicle registration certificates were retrieved.
He said when the stickers and the certificates were examined by DVLA officials, they turned out to be forged ones.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak