Kinsley Ofosu, the lone survivor of the well-known Deadly Voyage stowaway incident in 1992, has been apprehended for his alleged involvement in a scam amounting to 120,000 euros.
Ofosu, who gained global attention in 1992 for his remarkable survival during a stowaway journey, was arrested at his hideout in Prampram after an extensive 26-year search conducted by the police yielded no results. After more than twenty-five years of relentless pursuit, Ofosu was arrested on Saturday, October 14, 2023. Subsequently, he was brought before Takoradi Circuit Court B.
Inspector Robert Yawson, the prosecutor, informed the court, presided over by Her Honour Henrietta Charway, that the suspect had been on the police’s wanted list since 1998. He further stated that all attempts to apprehend the suspect had been unsuccessful. The prosecutor requested the court to remand the suspect in order to allow the police to conclude their investigations.
According to the prosecution, the suspect had vacated his residence in Tanokrom, a suburb of Takoradi, and relocated to an undisclosed location, making it challenging for the police to track him down. The prosecution argued that if granted bail, the suspect might interfere with the ongoing investigations, thus requesting a remand.
However, the plea for bail made by the accused’s counsel, Victor Owusu, was denied. Consequently, the accused has been remanded into police custody and is scheduled to appear again on October 30, 2023.
Complainant Charles Ohemeng, speaking via a telephone interview from Germany with Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, the host of Connect FM’s Omanbapa Morning show, revealed that he had encountered the accused in Germany in 1997, shortly after the accused gained international fame due to his miraculous escape from the MC Ruby Cargo Ship as a stowaway.
“He was famous and everyone was talking about him. They had given him legal documents and so he was moving from Europe to Ghana anytime he wanted. I met him in Germany in 1997 and decided to ship some vehicles and printing machines through him to Ghana. He agreed and we started buying the vehicles. I bought Mercedes Benz, tanker, Nissan, double axle vehicle, Opel, printing machines, and many others amounting to about 240,000 deutschmark (an equivalent of 120,000 Euros) at the time. I shipped them to him in Ghana and that was the end of everything. I did not hear from him again until his arrest today,” he indicated.
Kingsley Ofosu made international news in 1992, when he survived the slaughter of a group of African stowaways by the crew of the Bahamian-flagged cargo ship MC Ruby. In all, eight men were killed, including Ofosu’s brother. Ofosu was the only survivor.
According to Ofosu, he and seven other individuals from Ghana, including his half-brother Albert Codjoe, clandestinely boarded the MC Ruby, a cargo ship with Bahamian registration and a Ukrainian crew, on 24 October 1992. The ship was docked in Takoradi, Ghana, where it was loading cocoa.
The stowaways had aspirations of reaching Europe, in search of better opportunities than what Ghana had to offer. Ofosu, in particular, had dreams of pursuing his studies and returning to Ghana as a trained engineer.
During their concealment within the ship’s compartments, the group unexpectedly encountered another stowaway, who had joined them during the ship’s previous stop in Douala, Cameroon. Six days into the journey, the stowaways’ water container was damaged, prompting them to explore the ship in search of additional supplies. Unfortunately, this led to their discovery by the ship’s crew.
The crew members confiscated all of the stowaways’ money and confined them in a compartment housing the ship’s anchor chain. For three days, the stowaways endured harsh conditions, receiving minimal food and water. Eventually, the crew members began removing the stowaways from the compartment, two or three at a time.
Despite falsely claiming that they were being relocated to more comfortable accommodations, the crew members had actually decided to execute the stowaways.
They subjected them to severe beatings with an iron bar, followed by gunshots, and ultimately disposed of their bodies overboard somewhere off the coast of Portugal. Subsequent investigations revealed that the crew members’ motive was to evade the substantial penalties associated with smuggling illegal immigrants into a Western port.
