Fake US embassy in Ghana shut down
Source: Al Jazeera
The fake embassy operated illegally for a decade issuing visas at a cost of $6,000 each, according to State Department.
Authorities in Ghana have busted a fake US embassy in the capital, Accra, run by a criminal network that for a decade issued illegally obtained authentic visas, the US State Department has said.
Until it was shut down this summer, the sham embassy was housed in a run-down, pink two-storey building with a corrugated iron roof and flew a US flag outside. Inside hung a portrait of President Barack Obama.
"It was not operated by the United States government, but by figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish organised crime rings and a Ghanaian attorney practicing immigration and criminal law," the State Department said in a statement released late on Friday.
Turkish citizens, who spoke English and Dutch, posed as consular officers and staffed the operation. Investigations also uncovered a fake Dutch embassy, the State Department said.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/fake-embassy-ghana-shut-161204134951457.html
treestar
(82,383 posts)How long could they last, though, unless people were actually able to use the visas to get into the US?
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)Just as the Syrian identity documents ISIS is using to get some into Europe are authentic forms - although the information is not authentic.
The backstory to this will be interesting, if we ever hear it.
mainer
(12,037 posts)open for a decade?!!!
sfwriter
(3,032 posts)Response to JonLP24 (Original post)
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Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)I sit in awe and admiration of those who thought this up and executed it. If their initiative and creativity could only be harnessed for better purposes!