Jibril Musah, also known as Alhaji, a 40-year-old individual involved in ritualistic practices, has been remanded into police custody by the Cape Coast Circuit Court. He faces charges of defrauding a trader and her family. Musah pleaded not guilty and is set to appear in court again on Thursday, June 13 of this year.
According to Chief Inspector Gilbert Ayongo, who presented the case to the court presided over by Her Ladyship Dorinda Smith-Arthur, the complainant, Madam Mary Oppong, is a trader residing in Assin Ngresi. Musah, on the other hand, resides in the same community and is well-known as a spiritualist.
Mary stated that in November 2021, she sent her husband to Alhaji seeking treatment and healing. During the interaction, Alhaji informed her that her father had hidden a treasure, specifically gold, in one of their lands located in Assin Ochiso, within the spiritual realms.
Alhaji then instructed them to procure certain items for rituals to access the hidden gold. Mary explained that she reached out to her family and friends, requesting their financial contributions to raise the required funds for the rituals.
Exploiting the situation, Alhaji provided Mary and some family members with contact numbers belonging to a supposed marine god known as “maame water.” The deity would occasionally call these numbers to send money, supposedly to be used for purchasing the ritual items in the spiritual realm. The contact numbers provided were 0256281490 and 05594199200.
Taking advantage of the situation, Alhaji defrauded Mary of approximately GHC85,000.00 throughout this process. Despite Mary’s persistent efforts, she was unable to obtain the promised gold from Alhaji, which ultimately led to the arrest of the accused.
The court has deemed it necessary to remand Jibril Musah into police custody as the legal proceedings continue.
