Ghana church minister nabbed for swindling

MANILA, Philippines - A Ghanaian church minister was arrested in an entrapment in Caloocan City Monday afternoon for allegedly swindling fellow Africans who wished to travel to other countries.

Chief Inspector Manolo Salvatierra identified the suspect as Stephen Coudjoe Tetteh, 30. He is married to Joan Briada, 26, a Filipina, and resident of Barangay Tumana, Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

Salvatierra said Tetteh will be charged with estafa and illegal recruitment. Charges of human trafficking are also being considered pending the gathering of more evidence against the suspect.

Salvatierra said the entrapment was made after Nigerians Fidelis Markus, 31, a second medical technology student at the Centro Escolar University; and Akande Jumoke, 31, a former employee of a bank in Abuja, filed their complaints.

In an interview with The STAR, Markus said Tetteh promised to process his travel papers for Canada but failed to deliver as he promised. He said Tetteh had previously given him travel documents to the Philippines. The suspect allegedly failed to send him to Canada after he gave Tetteh $1,200, and even asked for more money.

Jumoke told The STAR she is in the country as a “transient.” She said she originally wanted to go to Canada and Tetteh had processed her travel papers to the Philippines. She also said Tetteh has taken her $4,600, her visa and her passport. Although her visa was for three months, she has stayed in the country for some six months now, making her an illegal alien, allegedly because of what Tetteh did to her.

Both victims have failed to contact their embassy in the country. Salvatierra said the CIDG is already communicating with the Nigerian and Ghanaian embassies.

Salvatierra said Tetteh denied the allegations even after the victims identified him as the person who duped them. Tetteh may not be working alone but a syndicate could be behind the cases, he added.

He told The STAR two more persons claiming to have been victimized through the same modus operandi have gone to the station to file their complaint.