Ghanaian police have arrested eight Nigerian nationals for allegedly assaulting a 21-year-old man during his initiation into an internet fraud operation in the Bono Region of Ghana.
The suspects were arrested at Kotokrom, a community in the Sunyani West Municipality, following a distress call received by the Bono Regional Police Command on October 4, 2026.
In a statement dated October 9, the police said officers who responded to the incident found the victim, identified as Godstime Umukoro, with multiple marks of assault on his body.
The suspects were identified as Peter Mbam, 24; Godwin Moses, 26; Humble Oweifah, 18; Osas Ogbemudia, 30; Samuel Aisosa, 22; Ashile Godbess, 24; Alexander Uyuo, 30; and Patrick Romans, 25.
According to the police, the suspects allegedly admitted during interrogation that they had severely beaten Umukoro as part of his initiation into internet fraud, claiming that they had undergone a similar experience.
The statement read, “During interrogation, the suspects stated that they subjected the victim to severe beating as part of his initiation into the Internet fraud business, a process they claimed they had also undergone.”
The police said preliminary investigations indicated that the group had been brought to Ghana by a man identified as Nwachukwu King Augustine, whom they described as their chairman.
The command further alleged that the group used downloaded photographs of foreign military personnel to deceive unsuspecting people online.
According to the police, the suspects allegedly posed as military personnel deployed to the war front in Yemen to establish online relationships with their targets before persuading them to send money.
“They lure innocent victims using downloaded images of foreign military men and start chatting with them under the pretext that they are at war front in Yemen. When they succeed in collecting the victims’ money, it is then paid into their boss’s account,” the statement added.
The Bono Regional Police Command commended members of the public for their intervention and reiterated its commitment to collaborating with residents to combat crime in the region.
The suspects remain accused of the alleged offences, while the police account of their interrogation forms part of the preliminary investigation.