The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has recovered some 43 high-value luxury cars between January and July 2025, stolen from abroad and shipped to Ghana.
These vehicles, including Rolls-Royce, Audi, Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz models, were stolen from countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, and France, and illegally imported into the country.
Out of the 43 vehicles that have been impounded, the court has ordered that 18 of them be repatriated to their countries of origin, out of which eight have already been repatriated, while 10 are pending repatriation. Cases of the remaining 25 are still pending at courts.
Director General of CID, COP Lydia Yaako Donkor, in a press statement, mentioned that for every vehicle that was impounded, thorough investigations were carried out, and the importers were allowed to provide proof of ownership of the purchase of the vehicles from the country of origin.
“It is sad to note that in almost all the cases mentioned above, those who clear the vehicles in Ghana are unable to provide proof of ownership or purchase of the vehicles from the country of origin before their importation into Ghana,” she said.
COP Donkor emphasised that payment of customs duties does not mean that the vehicle was legitimately acquired from the country of origin.
Special Taskforce
She added that a special taskforce has been set up by the CID administration to conduct intelligence-based operations and impound suspected stolen vehicles brought into the country, to further boost the fight against vehicle crime.
She said through the work of the taskforce, six vehicles, made up of four Toyota Tundra vehicles, one Toyota Rafael, and one Range Rover, all stolen from Canada, have also been impounded.
COP Donkor revealed that these criminals use fake identities to rent vehicles from car rental companies. While the rental agreement is enforced, they clandestinely ship the vehicles out of the country as soon as they are sure the vehicles have been cleared to stop paying the rental charges and cut all communication with the company.
“By the time the rental company realises that the contract has been aggregated, a vehicle would already have been shipped out of the country of origin. Some of the vehicles are stolen from the premises of the owners, and tracking systems are disabled, and then they are shipped into the country,” she explained.
“In some of the cases, fake credit cards or stolen credit card details are used to buy the vehicles on hard edges, while the agreement is enforced, the vehicles are shipped out of the country of origin. Once the vehicle is out and sold to an innocent buyer, the payments on the page are stopped. That is when the owners realise the theft and report to the authorities. Others also buy and import and use vehicles as a way of laundering innocent profits, apart from criminal acts like romance fraud and sextortion,” she added.
COP Lydia Yaako Donkor advised all citizens who want to purchase vehicles, particularly those imported from abroad, to go beyond requesting customs documents and demand from the importers some proof of purchase or ownership of the vehicle prior to its importation into the country.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke