En ‘Aisha’ Huang, the Chinese national and popular galamsey queen entered Ghana through an approved Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) check point, the government spokesperson on security and governance, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah has said.
He said Aisha Huang entered Ghana just a few weeks ago per his security briefing.
In a radio interview [AUDIO ATTACHED BELOW] monitored by Graphic Online on Accra based Citi FM Wednesday evening [September 7, 2022], Mr Boakye-Danquah said the security agencies monitored her movement and arrested her later on.
He said she entered Ghana with “illegal documents, forged documents, which does not even represent her name but because of how good our security services are, we have had to follow her to be sure that she was the same person that was deported out of the country, and over several weeks, we arrested her, we got to know that she entered through the country with forged documents.”
Palgrave Boakye-Danquah – Government spokesperson on Security and Governance
”Did she enter through the airport, the sea port or the land port,” Citi FM’s interviewer, Umaru Sanda Amadu asked.
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “Well the Immigration Services will be the best to be able to respond to that.”
Interviewer: “When you say she arrived with forged documents, did she also go through official borders, did she go through illegal routes or official borders to enter the country.”
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “She entered through official borders with forged documents”
Interviewer: “And we allowed her to go pass the Immigration checkpoint”
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “She entered through the Immigration checkpoint with her face and a different name.”
Interviewer: “But we have a biometric system that we deployed, I believe it is connected to people’s passports. Does our system has anyway of flagging someone who is entering with the wrong passport or a forged document when their biometric is already captured in the system, considering that this is no mean a person but a deportee from the Republic of Ghana”
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “Well truly, very well, but we are aware that when she entered through the country, the security services followed to be sure that she was the right person, and you are aware how a lot of Asians look-alike and it took us a bit of time to be able to be sure that she was the same person that was deported in 2017 [correct year is December 2018]. And we must commend the security services, especially the National Security and the rest of the security services that really aided in bringing her arrest to the country.”
Interviewer: “When did she enter the country, what date is the government working with as the date she entered with this illegal document.”
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “I do not have the date when she entered the country but I’m aware that she’s been here just a few weeks.”
Interviewer: “Just a few weeks. The National Identification Authority has said to us that she obtained a Ghana Card in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital and this happened on 25th August, which is like a week or so ago. So she clearly came into the country before then.
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “Yes a week or two ago, clearly came into the country before then, the NIA also, you are aware that non citizens can acquire the national card, and obviously she also used different names and also forged documents to acquire the Ghana Card and then we have been able to arrest all the situations and we are arranging [arraigning] before the law court”.
Interviewer: “She was arrested in Kumasi even though she obtained her Ghana Card in Tamale even though in the past she would have been involved in activities in Accra. What does the government know about her movements in the country, because that will be a lot of movements for her to have gone all the way to Tamale, return to Kumasi to be arrested.
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “I mean she has her own personal businesses as she is involved in as she is involved in, in your report you earlier stated that she was involved in galamsey, you are aware how gold reserves are scattered across the country, developing paths in the northern part of the country, not just Ashanti Region or any of the western part of Central Region but I mean gold has become a major commodity across the length and breath of this country so what we know about her activities is what our security agency has been able to pick up for which reason we were able to monitor her movement, from the very time she entered the country, till we were able to arrest her.”
Interviewer: “I see, now she was involved in business in Kumasi, that is what the Ashanti Regional Minister said to us. How is that someone who was deported some four years ago, still has businesses she is running in Kumasi.”
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “Well that will be something that will come up very strongly when we enter into the case in court for us to be able to verify all those issues.
Interviewer: “If government deported someone, should government not be sure, make sure that, that person has no trace here in this country.”
Boakye-Danquah’s response: “You are aware that Ghanaians who work with foreigners always need a local content and so if someone has a business that is already striving and it is legal and there are local partners, those local partners can continue with the work. But what we are interested in as a government is that, she has been arrested, the Attorney General has taken full responsibility to ensure that she goes through the law and I’m very certain that once all those processes have gone through, we will be able to come back to the Ghanaian people for the Ghanaian people to be aware and know how far the case has gone, but she will definitely face the full rigors of the law.
Asked for the second time when exactly and which Immigration check point she entered Ghana through, the government spokesperson said that will be for the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to explain.
“I will want to withhold that, to be able to say that the Immigration Service would be able to give us those responses. [She] definitely came through an approved route with forged documents.”
“She entered through official borders with forged documents, she entered through the immigration check point with her face and a different name.”
Already, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah has said Aisha Huang entered the Ashanti Region on August 31st, 2022 per his security briefing, and she was arrested two days later, on September 2, 2022 at her home at Ahodwo in Kumasi at 6:50am.
She was arraigned at an Accra Circuit Court same day, September 2, 2022.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has also said she visited an NIA registration centre in Tamale on August 25, 2022, to renew her NON CITIZEN IDENTITY CARD [Ghana Card]. But this was without an incident as she had attempted to register with a new name RUIXIA HUANG and a new date of birth of November 07, 1975, which matched with the new Chinese passport she presented with the number EJ5891162.
However, her details already in the NIA system has the name EN HUANG with July 07, 1986 as her date of birth. She first registered for the NON CITIZEN IDENTITY CARD in 2014 and her biometrics were captured. She did two successful renewals in 2016 and January 2018 before she was deported in December 2018.
When she reportedly sneaked into the country, she successfully renewed the NON CITIZEN IDENTITY CARD in Tamale.
Government Spokesperson response
Clarifying the question on when exactly she entered Ghana and through which Immigration checkpoint, the government spokesperson,
Already, the Director of Public Relations of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has been quoted as telling TV3 the case is currently being handled by National Security.
He said the sensitive nature of the matter was the reason it had been taken over by National Security despite her arrest by Immigration Officers,
In collaboration with other security agencies [National Investigations Bureau and Intelligence Unit of 4BN, Ghana Armed Forces], she was arrested.
Aisha Huang is a Chinese national who became notorious for her involvement in illegal small-scale mining [galamsey], and was deported in 2018 after the state discontinued a case against her.