Startling revelations have started emerging from how popular actor, John Dumelo, was caught red-handed attempting to make alterations to the mode and colour of a brand new Toyota V8 Land Cruiser said to belong to the state, apparently to keep it for his personal use.
One of the police officers who led the Eagle Eye SWAT Team and some National Security operatives to retrieve the vehicle from the spraying shop John Dumelo had sent the V8 vehicle, has revealed that the actor actually attempted to influence them with cash so that they would allow him to keep the vehicle.
“John Dumelo told me the car belongs to the state but I should mention our offer so he sorts me and the team out, because we are all young men just like him. I said ‘no way’ because we are not government auctioneers and that we are not ready for such an arrangement to mention an offer and let him keep a state car,” Abubro Kosua, Deputy Commander for Eagle Eye SWAT Team who actually led the operation to retrieve the vehicle, narrated on Okay Fm yesterday morning.
According to the radio station, several attempts to contact Mr. Dumelo failed. The actor told DAILY GUIDE when it broke the story, “I will not comment on that incident.”
Since DAILY GUIDE broke the story last Friday that the National Security operatives and agents from Eagle Eye SWAT Team had retrieved a V8 Toyota Land Cruiser from John Dumelo while he was attempting to make alterations to the vehicle, the actor has declined granting the paper interview for his part of the story.
He has, however, taken to social media to explain that he actually bought the car in question – a black-coloured Toyota V8 with registration number GE 8118–16 and chassis number JTMHVOJ2F4159829.
DAILY GUIDE reproduces below a transcript of the blow-by-blow narration Abubro Kosua gave to Kwame Nkrumah Tikese on the Okay Fm morning show on Tuesday. The interview was granted in the Twi language.
Abubro Kosua: We retrieved the car from a spraying shop at Abelemkpe. When we got to the shop, we realised John Dumelo had asked the workers at the shop to dismantle parts of the car and he had bought some new parts so they should replace it to make the car look different. He bought those new parts from Dubai.
This is strange because the car is a new car and actually a 2016 model so why buy new parts to replace equally new parts that have absolutely no fault. The rubbers were even still on the seats. This was a new car.
When we got to the shop, we had a hectic time before we were allowed in. The sprayers said they would never allow us inside until the shop owner, their master, was around. Their attitude even made us more suspicious. But we waited for over three hours for the owner of the shop to come around. He was at Prampram but we waited until he arrived.
When he came, we used a GC-Net software to check in whose name the car was registered, who imported the car and other details. The sprayer and workers there all saw the results that the name and details that came from the check showed that the car was for National Security. This means it is a state car.
Kwame Nkrumah Tikese: Is it true that National Security cars are fitted with certain gadgets which make them look different?
Abubro Kosua: True, but we realized those gadgets had been removed and disconnected from the car and he was actually changing the parts and re-spraying the car to make it look different and impossible for anyone to identify.
After the GC-NET software had indicated the car belongs to National Security, we asked the sprayer to call John Dumelo and ask him to come over. We wanted him to be there before we take any action.
When he came, we put the facts before him that our intelligence report had told us the car he was spraying belongs to the state and truly too, when we checked the ownership with the software the result showed it was a state car so why was he spraying the car without informing the state and how did he even get to use a state car in the first place?
He said the car was given to him by the former first lady, Lordina Mahama. So we told him that should not be a problem at all because all we would do is to ask the former first lady if she indeed gave him such a car and what the arrangements were.
Then John Dumelo changed the story and said he actually bought the car from a company at the Spintex Road by name Sivani and that he had done part payment and was yet to cover the rest of the amount. We requested that he showed us any receipt or documentation as evidence of what he was saying or any paper whatsoever to prove that he bought the car.
Then he asked that he would speak to me in private so he took me aside and asked me that I should mention my offer so he sorts me and the team out because the car actually belongs to the state.
Kwame Nkrumah Tikese: You mean John Dumelo was attempting to offer you money so you let him take the car?
Abubro Kosua: Yes, that is so. John Dumelo told me the car belongs to the state but I should mention our offer so he sorts me and the team out because we are all young men just like him. I said ‘no way’ because we are not government auctioneers and that we are not ready for such an arrangement to mention an offer and let him keep a state car
At that point, I told him that our information shows he actually has two of such state cars in his custody – a black one and an ash one – so he should let us know where the second one was even before we decide whether to negotiate with him or not.
John Dumelo’s response was that the ash V8 was with his girlfriend who had travelled outside the country and that he has no idea where she left the keys.
I asked him to send us to where the girlfriend had parked the ash coloured V8 so we could even tow the car, but he said he himself was travelling to the UK and that when he returns, he would send us to where the other car was.
We asked the sprayer to fix back all the parts that had been dismantled from the car and that we were taking it away. He fixed some and left some. We took the parts that had not been fixed back, took the car keys and asked the sprayer and John Dumelo himself to follow us so they would know where exactly we were sending the car.
We did not want a situation where Dumelo would get up one day and say he had no idea where we took the car and that the car was his and tell a different story. He said he would not follow us but we should go with the sprayer rather. So on that note, we left with the car from the spraying shop.
We drove straight to the Sivani Company on the Spintex Road – the company John Dumelo claimed he bought the car from. When we got there, we went to the manager and explained the situation to him and the fact that John Dumelo claimed he bought the car for them and had not finished paying.
The manager said John Dumelo had never bought any car from Sivani. On hearing this from the manager, I called John Dumelo on phone and told him I was with the managers of Sivani and that they had denied ever selling any car to him. So he should let us know which person from Sivani sold the car to him so we follow up from there.
I also told him he had the option of coming over to sort it out with his Sivani people or speak on phone, but he cut the line and truncated the call. I called again and he truncated the line again. This means he had failed the test and could not answer the questions.
Kwame Nkrumah Tikese: If you claim John Dumelo attempted to bribe you, why did you not cause his arrest?
Abubro Kosua: You are right in saying his attempt to bribe us should have been enough reason for us to cause his arrest. Our focus was on retrieving the car from him and getting him to lead us to retrieve the other car. I am not a small boy to take bribes from John Dumelo and let him steal a state car.
That was our focus. We were interested in getting him speak the truth so we get back the cars; so our focus was not on using police force or doing something else.
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