A man in his 50s is in the grips of police in Bawku for issuing fake international vehicle and driving permits to drivers and vehicle owners in the Bawku municipality of the Upper East Region.
The man, Ibrahim Mahamadu Awaafo, was arrested by the Bawku police on Monday, after a survey conducted by the Upper East Regional Drivers and Vehicle Licenses Authority (DVLA), revealed that his company, Intercontinental WAPIC insurance Ghana Limited, has been issuing fake vehicle and driving permits for the past two years.
The DVLA and the police on Sunday 19th March, 2017, impounded hundreds of motorbikes and vehicles with fake vehicle and driving permits, as well as fake registered number plates in the Bawku municipality.
The suspect, Mr. Awaafo, when probed by officials of DVLA and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) at the regional DVLA office, pleaded guilty of the offence and asked for forgiveness.
Mr. Awaafo was later granted bail of GHC15,000, and told to report to both the Bawku and Bolgatanga police stations on March 24, 2017.
Speaking to Citi News at Misiga, the Acting DVLA Manager of Upper East Region, Mr. Mutawakil Abdullah, said his outfit noticed that, the Bawku municipality and its environs have been inundated with fake vehicle number plates and needed a radical strategy to fix the situation.
He added that, the move will help clamp down on perpetrators who issue fake number plates by ensuring that, all motorists acquire genuine documentations from the DVLA.
Mr. Mutawakil said “we discovered that there are a lot of fake registration number plates in Bawku including other machines because we have done a lot of our own ground investigation for many weeks now.”
“There are certain numbers that have not been issued by the DVLA office, but are found on people’s bikes whiles other number plates found on the street of the Bawku municipality, are registered for different motorbikes. For example, a motorbike with this number M -17 -UE 25, has not yet been issued, whiles a bike with a number plate M -17 -UE 74, has been registered for a Royal motorbike at the DVLA which is also fake for a Honda bike in Bawku, and most of the fake number plates are registered in the name of different regions like Ashanti region, Northern region, Upper West and Brong Ahafo.”
Mr. Mutawakil bemoaned that the DVLA loses thousands of Ghana cedis through the evasion of motor import duties, adding that, more of such operations will help deal with the alarming trend. Mr. Mutawakil hinted that, the exercise will be extended to Garu, Pusiga, Zebilla , Bongo and Navrongo.
By: citifmonline.com/Ghana
