Security expert and former intelligence operative Richard Kumadoe has called on government agencies to tighten oversight of real estate transactions as a measure to tackle the growing problem of human trafficking in Ghana.
Speaking on TV3 on Thursday, April 17, Kumadoe said that there has been an increasing use of rental homes and estates by trafficking syndicates, which is being enabled by cash-dominated transactions that bypass the formal financial system.
“People rented these houses, or they purchased them outright with huge sums of money, and because the transactions do not go through the banking system, it’s very difficult to track who is engaging in what kind of financial transaction,” he said.
He further acknowledged the importance of investigating the financial trail behind property deals, especially in gated communities where victims are often hidden in plain sight.
“Rolling in the real estate in terms of who buys, where the money comes from, and who are the ultimate beneficial owners of these houses may serve a good purpose,” he added.
Additionally, Kumadoe linked the problem directly to the country’s cash-based economy, which he believes makes it easy for traffickers to conceal their operations. He emphasized that without a system to verify the identities of buyers and tenants, traffickers will continue to exploit urban housing spaces.
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The call to monitor real estate transactions came after a recent intelligence report that led to the exposure of a disturbing human trafficking and cybercrime scheme in Ghana.
This was led by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) in collaboration with the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 219 individuals at Isak Estates in Oyarifa, which is a gated community on the outskirts of Accra.
The people included Ghanaians and Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 38, comprising eleven minors, seven females, and two hundred and one adult males.
The victims were trafficked into the country under the guise of well-paying job offers. However, upon arrival, they were held captive and forced to engage in cyber fraud. Many had been confined for over a year, with their freedom and communication strictly controlled.
Kumadoe has also expressed concern about the lack of interagency collaboration and called for cooperation between law enforcement, immigration, and gender ministry departments. He praised the recent bust but cautioned that the fight is far from over.