The Police Service have expressed concern about the kidnapping of children, a new trend that some miscreants and criminals have adopted to extort money from parents.

At a news conference in Accra on Thursday on the crime wave in the country, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Frank Adu-Poku, said this year three complaints of abduction of children have been reported to the police.

Mr Adu-Poku said in most cases the perpetrators demand huge sums of money from the parents of the victims before freeing them.

He said the modus operandi of the criminals is that they offer the children lifts in their cars along the streets or pick them from school, ostensibly to take them home but end up keeping the children for hours or days, and demand huge ransoms from their parents before releasing them.

Mr. Adu-Poku said the police are firmly on the ground to stem the trend before it takes root.
He blamed the situation on the showing of certain foreign and African movies on the television networks which portray such crimes and appealed to the media to join forces with the police to nip the practice in the bud.

Mr. Adu-Poku also advised parents to introduce people they have assigned to pick their children after school to their teachers to ensure the safety of the children.

On the general crime wave, the CID boss said that even though statistics show a decline as compared to previous years, it does not give room for complacency on the part of the police and the public alike.

Crimes like falsification of travelling documents, birth and school certificates, passports and visas, as well as vehicle thefts and multiple sale of land still persist.

However, property fraud such as the fraudulent renting of houses has reduced significantly, he said.

Mr Adu-Poku appealed to the public to cooperate with the police and other security agencies to fight the crime wave.



Source: Times