An internet fraud-related murder, contemptuously referred to as ‘sakawa’, struck Nima yesterday, leaving residents puzzled about what could have triggered the cold-blooded crime. Gado Dagbani, 32, suspected to be a patron of sakawa, was killed by yet-to-be identified assailants said to be accomplices in the internet fraud crime, who came to his room at about 1am on Monday. Speaking to Daily Guide following the murder, the Nima Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Timothy Yoosa Bonga, said a certain Mustapha Mohammed, who lodged a complaint at the police station, indicated that the deceased lived in the same apartment with his younger brother, Alhassan Dagbani, 27, at a portion of Nima called ‘You Too Can Fly’. At about 1am on July 19, 2010, the two heard a knock on their door and Alhassan, a labourer, wondered who could be at the door at that odd hour. Gado, now deceased, asked him to allow the people in since he was aware of their visit. Alhassan then obliged the strangers who, upon entry, attacked them with a large stone and a piece of wood, killing Gado on the spot. Alhassan, on the other hand, according to the Divisional Commander, regained consciousness later. He said the assailants might have thought Alhassan was also dead when he fell unconscious. Alhassan, who sustained severe head injuries, is responding to treatment at the SSNIT Hospital, Osu. The chairman of the Nima Neighbourhood Watchdog Committeee, Alhaji Ibrahim Jebkle aka Avalon, said it was a woman who had come out to empty a chamber pot at about 4am who heard the groans of the survivor of the attack. The woman, according to him, drew the attention of a girl, who lives in the same house the incident took place, to something unusual in the room. When she entered the room to find out what was amiss, she discovered, to her amazement, the lifeless body of Gado, after which she raised an alarm. The watchdog chairman said he gathered that two Rasta men had turned up and knocked at the door of the deceased. They were said to have demanded to see the deceased to sort out details about a jackpot they had hit on the internet so they could claim the money after daybreak. When Alhassan returned to meet the strangers, he was said to have been hit by the assailants who proceeded to the location of the deceased, assaulting him with a brick and club. When the police arrived at the crime scene, they were able to recover the telltale items used to kill the deceased, one of them blood-stained. “It was after the Islamic dawn prayer and so we rushed to the scene to discover the gory spectacle with the deceased lying in a pool of blood,” Avalon said. Avalon stated, “A man told us that on the previous day, he chanced upon the deceased and some rastas wearing dreadlocks in a heated argument over money. The man did not pay particular attention to them, given that all of them were into the sakawa fraud. It was after learning about the murder that he began to put pieces together but could not really go beyond recalling what he saw briefly.” The watchdog committee, whose collaboration with the Nima Police has contributed to the positive management of crimes in this sprawling suburb of Accra, has promised to support the security agents in nabbing the killers. “We will definitely pick them for the police since especially they are suspects within the suburb,” he added. Internet fraud, or sakawa, has a large following in Nima and the surrounding communities where the youth, those mostly involved in the crime, live flamboyant lifestyles- flashy cars et al. So deeply rooted is the crime that some of the youth are now connected to the internet in the comfort of their rooms, having nothing or little to do with prying eyes in internet cafes. The police are said to have taken away a laptop they found in the room of the deceased and this, alongside others, could lead them to helpful clues to what really happened since the deceased was said to be connected to the internet in his room. Source: Daily Guide/Ghana