Police raid money doubling shrine … 3 bodies exhumed, two juju men grabbed

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters of the Ghana Police Service, in a massive operation last week Thursday, exhumed a number of decomposed headless bodies from a shrine at Adu Kojo, Mame Dede Junction, near Adeiso in the Upper West Akim District of the Eastern Region.

Two suspects, Christian Lawoe Gameli aka Power 1, owner of Power Spiritual and Herbal Center (the shrine), and Famous Adukonu aka Scorpion, spiritual trainee at the shrine, are currently in the grips of the police assisting with the investigation.

One of the decomposed bodies has so far been identified as that of 64-year old Edward Quartey Papafio, whose unceremonious disappearance triggered investigations which led to the discoveries at the shrine last Thursday, April 30, 2020.

The operational team, which was under the personal command of the Director General of CID, Commissioner of Police, (COP) Mr Isaac Ken Yeboah, included deployments from the CID Operations, Anti Armed Robbery Unit, Homicide Unit, Crime Scene Management Team, Police Intelligence Unit and Pathology Department of the Police Hospital, backed by the Adeiso District and Asamankese commands of the Police Service.

Information gathered by The Chronicle has it that the deceased, Quartey Papafio, who is reportedly a retired military officer (not confirmed though) prior to his disappearance, allegedly told the wife, a priestess, that their lives would soon see total transformation.

Sometime in January this year, the deceased left home and was said to have gone to withdraw some amount of money from one of the banks at the Accra Central Business area, but failed to return.

His cell phone also went off, creating fear and panic among family members. The wife went to enquire at the particular bank, only to be informed that Quartey Papafio had come to withdraw a certain amount of money.

The Priestess proceeded to the Ministries Police Station and lodged a complaint, and in the cause of investigations, his place of abode was visited, and there was no indication that the deceased was present.

Not satisfied with the level of investigations, the complainant sent a petition to the Police Headquarters, resulting in the case being handed over to the Anti-Armed Robbery Unit to pursue.

Collaborative efforts between the unit and the telecommunication companies traced calls to deceased’s cellular phone number to the group, which has been advertising its spiritual powers to double money.

The detectives reportedly feigned interest in the money doubling rituals, and it took a hell of going back and forth before they were finally permitted by the spiritualists to come to the shrine with a visible signboard to direct first time visitors.

At the shrine, now a crime scene, the operation to exhume the bodies, which formally commenced on Wednesday April 29, 2020 with the apprehension of the suspects, graduated through various stages, as information on the place of the secret burials was not volunteered by the two in the grips of the law.

It took the dexterity of a detective for one of the spiritualists to lead the men to the area where benches had been positioned for visitors to sit.

After digging the ground, it became crystal clear that human bodies were buried there, as the stench emanating was unbearable. By the time the exercise, that drew large crowd from both near and far, was over, around 1600 hours, the decomposed body of Edward Quartey Papafio was identified.

Snippets on the ground hinted of an allegation of how the body of an accident victim which was buried at a cemetery reportedly found its way to the shrine. The unconfirmed reports making the rounds did not leave out certain service personnel, who had also disappeared mysteriously.

The hairdo of one of the bodies, suspected to be a female, was also found during the exhumation. Idols with padlocked mouths and photographs fitted on them were visible at the inner shrine. Stay tuned, as the police after scoring this high marks tell their story.

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