GHANA CONVICTS TRAFFICKER AND ARRESTS OTHERS IN

UNCLAS ACCRA 001122 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP PHUM PGOV XA GH SUBJECT: GHANA CONVICTS TRAFFICKER AND ARRESTS OTHERS IN SEPARATE CASES ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In two recent cases, Ghanaian law enforcement used undercover operations to arrest human traffickers. A man from the Western Region was sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to sell his eight year old brother, and a woman from the Ashanti Region is being prosecuted for attempting to sell another woman for ritual purposes. A mother and daughter team were also arrested for allegedly trafficking a 12 year old Togolese girl from Ghana to Nigeria. All of the cases demonstrate the increasing attention Ghanaian law enforcement is paying to human trafficking issues, as well as their capacity to mount undercover operations in the regions. Patience Quaye, the head of the Ghanaian police anti-trafficking unit, has said that improved police training has led to the increase in arrests. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) A 28 year old man was sentenced October 12 to four years in prison by a court in the Western Region after pleading guilty to trying to sell his 8 year old brother for 10,000 GH cedis (approximately $7,000). The brothers lived with their mother, who gave her permission for the child to travel with his older sibling to visit his brother's friend in the Central Region. When the two arrived in town, the older brother approached a taxi driver to help find a buyer for the child. According to the evidence, the taxi driver feigned interest in the purchase but reported the incident to police who arrested him in a sting operation. ¶3. (U) In a separate case, a 46 year old female kiosk owner was arrested October 7 in the Ashanti Region for attempting to traffic her assistant to Cote D'Ivoire for ritual purposes. According to media reports, the woman admitted her intent to sell her assistant and was remanded into prison custody. The victim reportedly told police that she was asked by her employer to accompany the woman to buy produce in the market where an undercover policeman, acting on a tip-off, approached the woman and offered to buy the girl. After some negotiation, the price agreed upon was 6,000 GH cedis (approximately $4,000). The policeman made a deposit and said be would return with the balance; however, he returned with uniformed police who arrested the woman. ¶4. (U) A mother and her daughter were arrested on October 13 in Accra for allegedly trafficking a 12 year old Togolese girl from Ghana to Nigeria. The pair pleaded not guilty to various trafficking related charges and have been remanded into custody. The girl was brought from Togo by her grandmother when she immigrated to look for menial work. After four years of washing dishes in the eatery owned by the accused, the victim's grandmother returned to Togo in 2008 and left the girl in the custody of the accused. The girl's mother recently arrived in Ghana to take the child back to Togo and was told by the accused that the girl is in Nigeria. The victim's mother filed a complaint with the police, who arrested the two accused. ¶5. (U) On October 15, Poloff spoke with Patience A Quaye, head of the anti-trafficking unit of the Ghana police. Although Quaye would not comment on the specifics of the cases, she noted that police training to spot potential trafficking is resulting in more arrests. TEITELBAUM