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, reports said on Monday, quoting the US State Department.
According to CNN, the state department did not say how many people may have entered the US illegally using documentation issued by the crime ring. It also did not say how the ring may have obtained official documents.
The building from which the ring operated, flew the American flag and inside hung a photo 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 was quoted as saying in a statement.
An Al Jazeera report said that the crime ring issued fraudulently obtained but legitimate US visas and false identification documents, including birth certificates at a cost of $6 000 each.
During the raids that led to a number of arrests, authorities also seized authentic and counterfeit Indian, South African and Schengen Zone visas and 150 passports from 10 different countries along with a laptop and smart phones.
