The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has arrested 11 suspects in an intelligence-led operation at Fafa Community in Tema after investigations revealed that two people initially identified as victims of human trafficking were allegedly coordinators of a cybercrime syndicate.

The police said the two, Godstine Terry, 34, and Wilson Makuo, 21, were first believed to have been trafficked into Ghana. Further investigations, according to the CID, established that they were allegedly playing coordinating roles within the criminal network.

The Director-General of the CID, Commissioner of Police Lydia Yaako Donkor, said this at a press briefing on Wednesday, July 21, 2026, where she gave updates on four major operations involving cyber-enabled fraud, human trafficking and illicit firearms trafficking.

COP Donkor said the Tema Regional Police Intelligence Directorate carried out the operation at Fafa Community following intelligence on suspected cybercrime activities.

She said the suspects, victims and exhibits had been handed over to the Cybercrime Unit of the CID for further investigations.

According to COP Donkor, preliminary investigations established that six of the 11 individuals were victims of human trafficking who had been brought from Nigeria to Ghana.

She said subsequent investigations revealed that Terry and Makuo, who were initially classified as victims, were allegedly coordinating the activities of the syndicate.

COP Donkor said another suspect, identified only as Jerry, who allegedly facilitated the movement of the victims into Ghana, remained at large and was being pursued by the police.

She said the suspects had been put before the Circuit Court and remanded into police custody, while electronic devices retrieved during the operation had been secured for digital forensic examination.

The CID Director-General said investigations were continuing to identify other people linked to the criminal network.

She explained that the Fafa Community operation formed part of a wider crackdown by the CID and the Tema Regional Police Command on cyber-enabled fraud and human trafficking.

COP Donkor said in another intelligence-led operation at Mataheko, Afienya, police arrested 10 suspects after uncovering an apartment allegedly being used as a base for internet-related fraud.

She said investigations showed that the alleged leader of the group, Collins Francis Olayi Ojo, facilitated the movement of nine Nigerian nationals from Nigeria to Ghana by road and allegedly forced them into cyber-enabled fraudulent activities.

According to her, the nine individuals had been identified as victims of human trafficking and had been rescued and placed in a safe location for the necessary support.

Police also retrieved 28 laptop computers and nine mobile phones from the premises for digital forensic examination.

COP Donkor said in a separate operation at Kwabenya in Accra, police arrested five suspects after receiving intelligence that several young Nigerians had been trafficked into Ghana and were being kept in a house where they were allegedly forced to engage in cyber-enabled criminal activities.

She said officers forced open a locked bedroom after becoming suspicious of an explanation given by one of the suspects and found 22 young Nigerian nationals inside.

Preliminary investigations established that 18 of them, aged between 15 and 24, were victims of human trafficking who had been brought from Nigeria.

According to COP Donkor, one of the suspects, Chigozi Azubuike, described as the group's self-styled chairman, instructed the victims to hide from the police.

She said the victims had since been rescued and placed under the care of the appropriate authorities, while the five suspects had been remanded by an Accra Circuit Court to assist investigations.

COP Donkor appealed to the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities to the nearest police station under the Ghana Police Service's "See something, say something" campaign.

She also acknowledged the role played by the media in one of the rescue operations. She said the Kwabenya case came to the attention of the police after one of the victims contacted The1957News, which passed the information to the police, leading to the rescue of the trafficking victims.

COP Donkor urged media organisations to continue providing platforms for vulnerable people to seek help, saying the partnership between the media and the police had contributed to efforts to combat human trafficking and cyber-enabled crime.