Police in the Ashanti Region have arrested six people for using forged documents to apply for recruitment into the Ghana Police Service (GPS).

The suspects were found to have forged either academic or birth certificates.

Command officials say the alleged culprits will be arraigned in court pending further investigation.

The Service recruitment exercises in the country have been fraught with a lot of irregularities over the years.

Some civilians collaborating with some police officers have been swindling Ghanaians thousands of cedis with the promise of getting them into the police force.

A former Interior Minister, Mark Wayongo disclosed on the Joy FM’s Super Morning Show in 2015 that he got wind of the scam in that year when his constituents phoned him to get them recruited.

A Headmaster, Elias Bida in Keta in the Volta Region was arrested for swindling residents of Keta to the tune of  Gh¢150,000 each from applicants.

Officer In-charge of the Ashanti Regional Enlistment Team in the Ashanti Region, ACP Dr Sayibu Gariba said from initial examination, they realised that those applicants have allegedly falsified documents.

"We have therefore detained them and will hand them over to the Criminal Investigations Department for further investigations," ACP Gariba said.

He said so far dates of birth; ages and senior high school (SHS) certificate gradings, adding that "some of them have been interpreted while others do not match and that is what our experts who look at them tell us and advise accordingly."    

"The body selection has a lot of definitions, one of them id height. Females must be 5 feet 4 inches tall and men should be 5 feet 8 inches in height to be considered. Other areas include flatfootedness before the issue of documentation comes in," ACP Gariba said. 

He said age is important in the documentation as this year, as the age bracket for consideration is 18-24. 

Meanwhile, about 4,500 applicants are expected to be processed for further consideration over three days, beginning today. In Accra, the process has been going smoothly without any incident so far.

Upper West District Commander, ACP Habiba Twumasi Sarpong, says structures have been put in place to ensure that this year’s exercise is devoid of the challenges which have characterized previous exercises.

According to Joy News correspondent Rafiq Salam, ACP Sarpong set the ground rules before the exercise begun.

"If you know you have a fake certificate or you made any forgery please leave the queue quietly. If you know you are part of the 500 military officers recently sacked, you are advised to also leave the queue. We are looking for disciplined, law-abiding officers," she stressed.    

Director of Public Affairs, Cephas Arthur who was in Koforidua to monitor happenings said it has been smooth and successful so far with the applicants looking enthusiactic. 

He said he is not surprised irrespective of measures put in place some applicants are foolhardy while others also count on their luck to go through with forged documents. 

"By and large the applicants are adhering to the warning and advice we are giving them and to think that so far only a minimal number of six people in the Ashanti Region are involved in falsified documents. This tells a success story for the Service and for the country as a whole".

He said in the next three days in some Regions there are a large number of people waiting to go through measurement, inspecting of documents as well as completing the last stage, taking the aptitude test.