Police arrest Asie Ocansey for human-trafficking

The identity of the woman, aged 27, has been witheld for technical reasons.

According to the police the young woman, who was a staunch Christian was alleged to have been lured to Kuwait by the suspect, believing that she would live a better life but was shocked by what she went through when she arrived there.

The police said the young woman was made to believe that she was going to work in a supermarket, but she was rather pushed into prostitution.

She was brought back from Kuwait about two months ago with serious mental problems.

Supt. Quaye said the victim had told the police about her horrifying experience the result of which was her current mental instability.

Supt. Quaye said the victim was brought to the unit by her uncle and brothers, screaming and running around the car park of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.

When the relatives finally managed to calm her down, victim started screaming  that “ I will not die, I will not die”.

Supt Quaye said the victim looked pale, dehydrated and drowsy so after her statement and that of her uncle had been taken, she was sent to the 37 Military Hospital for treatment where she was admitted for some weeks..

She said doctors at the hospital could not immediately administer any drugs to her because she had been heavily sedated and kept passing out.

Supt Quaye said after her discharge from the hospital, she narrated her ordeal to the police, claiming that a lot of young Ghanaian girls were suffering.

Some of the victims are even said to have lost their lives in the process.

From the narration of the victim to the police, she claimed to have heard the announcement on the radio and followed up to Princess Asie Ocansey’s office in Tema.

After a few days of orientation, seven of them were sent to Kuwait to work in a huge supermarket.

She said on arrival they were met by three Arab men who packed all seven of them and their luggage into a car.

As soon as they arrived at their destination, their passport, luggage and mobile phones were taken from them.

Thereafter they were pushed into a room where they met young women from other countries.

The victim indicated that they were not given water nor food and for the two days that they stayed in the room it was locked from outside and the ventilation in the room was very poor.

The room was only opened when men from various recruiting agencies came to select those they thought could serve their purpose and took them away.

It was a relief when she was picked by one of the men thinking that she was going to work in the supermarket, but little did she know that her problems were just beginning.

She was moved from one location to another sleeping with men, and at a point she passed out because she couldn’t take it anymore.

She pleaded with the doctor who treated her in the hospital in Kuwait to call her family in Ghana.

It was based on the efforts by the doctor that she was able to get in touch with her family who compelled Ocansey to bring her back to Ghana.

Following her arrest, Ocansey told the police that she was not the only person in Ghana with the backing of labour laws to recruit girls to the Gulf countries.

She said several girls had been sent there to work and that the victim was not the only woman she had sent there to work.

According Ocansey she had information from her counterparts in Kuwait that shortly on arrival, the victim fell in love with a Kuwaiti man.

According to Princess Asie Ocansey the man, after sleeping with her realised that the young woman was a virgin and, therefore, quit the relationship.

She claimed it was the breakdown of the relationship which caused the young woman to develop a mental problem.

Supt Quaye said the American Embassy had also made a complaint against Ocansey.

 Ocansey is currently on police enquiry bail assisting in their investigations.

Story by Mary Mensah/Daily Graphic /Ghana