Nkonkonsa Celebrity Gossip From Africa
The sole survivor of the well-known Deadly Voyage stowaway incident in 1992, Kinsley Ofosu, has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a €120,000 scam.
The suspect, who gained international attention in 1992 for his miraculous survival from a stowaway journey, was apprehended from his hideout in Prampram, in the Greater Accra Region, after police efforts to locate him over 26 years had proven unsuccessful.
After nearly two-and-a-half decades of relentless pursuit, the police arrested Ofosu on Saturday, October 14. He was subsequently brought before the Takoradi Circuit Court B.
Prosecutor Inspector Robert Yawson informed the court, presided over by Her Honour Henrietta Charway, that the suspect had been on the police’s wanted list since 1998, and all previous attempts to arrest him had failed.
He requested the court to remand the suspect to allow the police to complete their investigations.
According to the prosecution, the suspect had relocated from his residence in Tanokrom, a suburb of Takoradi, to an undisclosed location, making it challenging for the police to trace him.
Prosecution argued that granting bail might allow the suspect to interfere with the ongoing investigations and therefore requested remand.
The accused’s counsel, Victor Owusu, requested bail for his client but it was not granted. As a result, the accused has been remanded into police custody and is expected to reappear in court on Monday, October 30.
The complainant, Charles Ohemeng, revealed in a telephone interview from Germany that he met the accused in Germany in 1997, shortly after Ofosu’s international fame following his miraculous escape from the MC Ruby Cargo Ship.
He explained that Ofosu had gained significant recognition at the time due to the stowaway incident and had legal documents that allowed him to travel between Europe and Ghana.
Mr Ohemeng recounted that he decided to ship vehicles and printing machines through Ofosu to Ghana, including Mercedes Benz, a tanker, Nissan, a double axle vehicle, Opel, printing machines, and others, totaling approximately 240,000 deutschmark (equivalent to 120,000 Euros at the time).
“He was famous and everyone was talking about him. They had given him legal documents and so he was moving from Europe to Ghana anytime he wanted. I met him in Germany in 1997 and decided to ship some vehicles and printing machines through him to Ghana. He agreed and we started buying the vehicles. I bought Mercedes Benz, tanker, Nissan, double axle vehicle, Opel, printing machines, and many others amounting to about 240,000 deutschmark (an equivalent of 120,000 Euros) at the time.
“I shipped them to him in Ghana and that was the end of everything. I did not hear from him again until his arrest today,” he indicated.
He shipped these items to Ofosu in Ghana, but communication was lost, and he did not hear from him until his recent arrest.
In 1992, Kingsley Ofosu became internationally known when he survived the massacre of a group of African stowaways by the crew of the Bahamian-flagged Ukrainian-crewed cargo ship, MC Rugby.
The ship was docked in Takoradi to load cocoa, and the stowaways had hoped to travel to Europe for a better life. However, after hiding on the ship for several days, they were discovered by the crew members, who decided to slaughter them one by one.
In the end, Kinsley Ofosu’s half-brother, Albert Cudjoe, who was on the ship with seven others, was brutally murdered, leaving Ofosu as the sole survivor.
The tragic story of Ofosu was later adapted into a 1996 film titled ‘Deadly Voyage,’ produced by Union Pictures and distributed to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Home Box Office (HBO). Omar Epps starred as Kinsley Ofosu
credit:theindependentghana
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