The Government of Ghana is collaborating with the Ivorian immigration authorities to rescue and repatriate over 200 Ghanaians, who are held in secluded places in Côte d’Ivoire.

Currently, over 700 Ghanaians are held hostage in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, and Togo after being scammed by people who are using the name of QNET, allegedly claiming association with it.

The victims were lured to Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and other West African States by the suspects, who scammed them under the pretext of processing their visas and other travelling documents in the West African countries, and used those countries as transit to their final destinations in France, Canada, Belgium and Qatar.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, made this known on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday when responding to an urgent question posed by Mr Kwaku Buah, the Member of Parliament for Pru East, on measures the government was undertaking to rescue and repatriate Ghanaians trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire by persons fraudulently using the name of QNET.

The minister said, so far, the government had successfully rescued and repatriated 400 Ghanaians who were trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin and Togo since 2021 to date.

He said, currently, there were over 500 Ghanaians between 20 and 40 years held hostage in Cote d’Ivoire and 202 in Nigeria.

The victims paid between GH¢18,000 and GH¢35,000 and GH¢30,000 and GH¢40,000 to the QNET scammers with the promise of processing their travel documents in the West African country and using Cote d’Ivoire as a transit to Europe, North America and Asia countries, the Minister stated.

Mr Ablakwa further stated that Ghana’s diplomatic missions in those countries were collaborating with immigration authorities and Interpol to help rescue the victims and apprehend the fraudsters.

“The Ghanaian embassies and diplomatic missions in those countries are providing consular services to the victims,” Mr Ablakwa stated.

The minister said that from September this year, the Ministry in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) would organise sensitisation events across the country to create awareness about scammers misusing the name of QNET for fraudulent activities.

The minister said that, so far, no arrest had been made regarding the scammers involved in the fraudulent scheme and urged the public to contact the Ministry with vital information that could lead to the arrest.

QNET has launched a Compliance Office in Ghana to help security agencies track, monitor and combat people and scammers misuing its name. Additionally, QNET is partnering with the Economic and Organised Crime Office to implement a roadshow to educate the public against scams perpetuated in the name of QNET.