Following a coordinated effort by the National Security task teams, eight people involved in illicit foreign exchange trading have been taken into custody.

The arrest is a component of a larger operation by many security services to control the foreign exchange market and stop the depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi. The operation was carried out in Osu, Tudu, Kwame Nkrumah Circle, and the Airport area.

It was led by a joint task force that included the Ghana Police Service, National Intelligence Bureau, National Fusion Center of the Ministry of National Security, Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana Immigration Service, and other security and intelligence agencies.

Two Ghanaians and six foreign nationals are among the suspects.

Also, GH¢156,074 and CFA5,000 were taken from the accused as a result of the operation.

At Osu, two people were taken into custody: Yakubu Mohammed and Abdulrahman Younoussa. They had CFA5,000 and GH¢8,444 on them when they were taken into custody.

GH¢30,050 was taken from Abdul Razak Abdul Karim after he was also taken into custody at Tudu.

Following their arrest at Circle, the task force took GH¢18,495 from Abdul Waheed and Nasil Nuhu. GH¢40,520 was taken from Zakari Suley when he was caught at Circle.

GH¢18,445 and GH¢40,120 were taken from Abdulai Karim, also known as Nii Tettey Addo, and Sani Iddrisu Mohammed when they were apprehended at the Airport region.

Before being brought before a judge, the illegal forex dealers were then turned over to the appropriate security services for additional processing.

A license is required to deal in foreign exchange, according to Section 3(1) of the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723). Section 29 (1a) of the Act lays out the penalties for individuals

who trade forex illegally.

The section stipulates that trading forex without a licence is against the law and carries a maximum penalty of 700 penalty units, a maximum 18-month jail sentence, or both.

There are also equivalent penalties for pricing, advertising, paying, or accepting payment in foreign currency for products and services in Ghana.

BY: APPIANIMAA MERCY