The Chamber of Automobile Dealership Ghana (CADEG) has called on the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for the immediate suspension of the order to seize some 95 luxury vehicles.
According to the Chamber, EOCO’s announced freeze on some luxurious cars alleged to have been stolen from the US and Canada are unfounded. It revealed that the information on the said vehicles as stolen are untrue and that EOCO should as a matter of urgency order for suspension to aid in further investigations.
“Per the investigations, it means that EOCO should have contacted us to get our version and see that most of those cars that have been claimed to have been stolen are not actually stolen but Ghanaians are rather victims of this international forces. It is a cartel work from Canada that they are using that cartel system to take advantage of the ordinary businessman to take their money from them. So, I believe that that exercise should be suspended.”
Chamber of Automobile Dealership Ghana
Furthermore, CADEG highlighted that EOCO did not consult them when they froze the cars alleged to have been stolen. It explained that if the crime office had consulted some stakeholders, it would have enabled a thorough investigation.
“There were a lot of people that were consulted, but CADEG in particular was not consulted. But as I told you, even if you are not consulted, we have engaged other stakeholders like Interpol, Auto Theft, the Legal Department of CID, the Director General of CID, Customs, Shippers Authority. So, there’s a communication going on between us and how to sanitize the system.”
Chamber of Automobile Dealership Ghana
Some car dealers who expressed their displeasure with regard to the seizure stated that they “will resist” and take their cars from whoever is using them.
EOCO announces order for seizure of luxury cars
It will be recalled that the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on April 18, 2023, announced that it has seized 95 luxurious cars. The office stated that it expects dealerships in possession of the vehicles to present them before May 3.
Owners of these vehicles are expected to report to the EOCO offices with the needed documents or risk them being totally confiscated in accordance with the law.
Furthermore, EOCO stated that the operation resulted in the retrieval of some luxury cars stolen from the United States of America and Canada.
The announcement followed an Intelligence-led operation by EOCO, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that busted a vehicle-stealing syndicate in Ghana last December. During this, thirty-seven luxury vehicles were retrieved from some garages and 10 persons arrested in the exercise in December and four additional vehicles were later retrieved, bringing the total number to 41.
The garages where the vehicles were retrieved were located in Dzorwulu, Dimples, North Kaneshie, East Legon, Accra Central near the Movenpick Hotel, Dzorwulu roundabout, near the Fiesta Royale Hotel, and an area near the Trinity Theology Seminary.
Subsequently, in a statement issued, EOCO noted that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) was notified to be on the lookout for any possible attempt to register or change ownership of any of the vehicles. It explained that information available to it indicated that about 400 luxury vehicles suspected to have been stolen from the USA and Canada were in the country.
The said vehicles were alleged to have been obtained through fraud and other crimes and shipped into the country, with some being displayed for sale in a number of garages in Accra.
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