The stolen Lamborghini was found with a Ghanaian musician. Photo credit: Nexgenluxe.com
In partnership with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (the FBI) and the US Justice Department, the Ghanaian Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) announced that it has seized a 2019 Lamborghini Urus, a luxury car, from Charles Armah, a Ghanaian musician better known as Shatta Wale.
The operation came after a request from the FBI and the US Justice Department in 2023, and it ended with a lawful search of the musician’s apartment, according to a press statement released yesterday by the agency's acting Executive Director, Raymond Archer, and shared by the Ghanaian media.
Following EOCO's Surveillance and Asset Recovery Unit's search, a 2019 Lamborghini Urus was found and taken into custody. The statement claims that US police have connected the car to the illegal proceeds of a man named Nana Kwabena Amuah, who is presently incarcerated for 86 months for financial crimes committed in the US.
This is the first time that stolen vehicles have been confiscated by Ghana's Economic and Organized Crime Office. An NPP politician, Bernard Antwi Bosiako, was arrested and detained by the EOCO office this year on suspicion of fraud, money laundering, and complicity in the seizure of luxurious, expensive stolen vehicles from Canada.
As you may remember, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) found that "Canada's stolen cars are sold in Ghana" after conducting an investigation into auto theft. The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) released data showing that auto theft is not declining throughout the nation. In 2023, Canada's insurance claims for replacing stolen vehicles hit a record-breaking $1.5 billion.
Stolen vehicles are being transported across Ghana and dispersed across Africa. "It can already stand inside the container on a ship sailing from the Port of Montreal," according to a recent CBC News story. "Auto thieves don't despise robberies, according to Peel Regional Police Det. Sgt. Mark Haywood in Canada. "They break into people's homes and take away their car keys by force."
The Ghanaian artist Shatta Wale, whether aware of whether the vehicle was stolen or not, congratulated himself on his new Lamborghini Urus on his former Twitter page, now X, last year.
Crime and corruption have existed in Ghana, but things got out of control when the NPP, the opposition party, broke its pledge to combat corruption. Ghanaians now hope that John Mahama's new government will improve the situation.