The Ghana Police Service has arrested eight suspects for allegedly assaulting a 21-year-old man during an initiation into an internet fraud operation at Kotokrom in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region.

In a statement dated Friday, October 9, the Bono Regional Police Command said the arrests followed a distress call received by its Regional Operations Unit on October 4, reporting that a group of people were attacking a man at Kotokrom.

Officers who responded found the victim, identified as Godstime Umukoro, with multiple marks of assault on his body and arrested the eight suspects at the scene.

The suspects have been 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 admitted during investigations to beating Mr Umukoro as part of his initiation into the alleged internet fraud operation, claiming they had undergone a similar process themselves.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the suspects were brought to Ghana by a man identified as Nwachukwu King Augustine, whom the police described as their chairman.

The command also alleged that the group used downloaded images of foreign military personnel to deceive people online.

The suspects reportedly posed as military personnel serving on the front lines in Yemen, engaged their targets in conversations and solicited money from them.

The police said money allegedly obtained from the victims was paid into an account belonging to the group’s alleged leader.

The Bono Regional Police Command has commended members of the public for their intervention and reaffirmed its commitment to working with the public to combat crime in the region.