3 OFFICERS OF HASMAL LADIES IN POLICE GRIPS (GRAPHIC SPORTS, BACK PAGE)

THREE officials of the female team of Sekondi Hasaacas have been arrested by the Takoradi Police for an alleged trafficking of three young girls to Europe.
The officials, who have been charged with conspiracy to traffic humans by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Western Regional Police Command, are Mohammed Ben Hassan, 56, the director of the club, Yussif Basika, 37, Coach, and Caesar Amo Coleman, 31, who posed as a welfare officer of the club.
According to the police, the officials of the team left Ghana with 17 players in July this year for a tournament but failed to return with three of the girls of the team.
They were said to have transported the girls to Valencia in Spain after the game from where they allegedly attempted to move them to another European country for other purposes than the game of football.
The welfare officer, who was said to have left the camp with the girls, promised to meet them with the rest of the team at the airport on the day of departure but failed to do so.
The said officials were said to have presented 17 players, including the three, who are at large and the one who posed as the welfare officer of the team to the Spanish Embassy in Accra and managed to secure the visas for the young girls for an international friendly with a Spanish side, Victoria Gazettein, in July this year.
However, a promise by the host team to sign the three girls failed to materialise and that compelled the Ghanaian team to look elsewhere in Europe.
The Officer Commanding the Anti-Human Traffic Unit, Mr Daniel Darteh, disclosed that after playing a game with the Spanish side, the welfare officer left with the three girls and failed to produce them on the day of their depature from Spain.
He said the three officials and the remaining players returned to Ghana without the three girls and failed to report to the police in Spain, the Ghana Police or the Ghana Football Association.
The unit commander said the officials at the embassy instructed the team officials that upon their return, they should report to the embassy with all members of the team, but they failed to do so.
The unit commander, who is also the second in command of the Regional Crime Unit, said some of the officials upon interrogation said the welfare officer was the one who was obliged to produce the girls he travelled with to Valencia after the game.
“Those interrogated, including with some of the players who travelled with them, said Coleman promised to meet them at the airport with the remaining members of the team but failed to produce them ,” the unit commander said.
“They said when they asked the welfare officer whereabouts of the girls, he only said they had vanished and that he could not find them,” Mr Darteh said.
On the next line of action, the unit commander said the three have been charged with human trafficking which was an affront to the country and international law.
He said the police deemed issues with human trafficking seriously and would do everything possible to ensure that the issue was thoroughly investigated and the culprits handled according to law.
The signals picked by the police investigations team also indicated that some members who did not go with the team to Spain were not happy with the deal and therefor decided to blow the cover.