Accra court remands three in GH¢2 million gold jewellery robberies

An Accra Circuit Court remanded three men accused of hitting two jewellery shops in the city’s high-value retail corridors, a case that puts a sharp focus on how quickly gold inventory can be turned into cash and moved through secondary buyers. The accused, Musa Abdul Aziz Mamoud, also known as Justin Martin, Abubakar Mamoud and Edgar Donkor, all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery.

Prosecutors said the Westlands robbery targeted Berma Jewellery Shop and ended with gold accessories valued at GH¢2 million missing. A separate robbery at Rhyme Jewellery Shop in Airport Residential Area took place on September 11, 2025, with items valued at GH¢1,813,000 allegedly stolen. Taken together, the two cases point to more than GH¢3.8 million in gold and jewellery losses, a reminder that display cases in Accra’s gold trade are also vaults of concentrated risk.

The court also heard that a goldsmith was summoned after allegedly receiving stolen gold, an allegation that extends the case beyond the smash-and-grab itself and into the harder problem of tracing melted, recast or resold pieces. That secondary market is where investigators often confront the reality of gold retail theft: once chains, bangles, pendants and other accessories are broken apart, the evidence can become portable, anonymous and far easier to launder through intermediaries.

One report placed the Westlands robbery in April 2025, while another said Mamoud faces additional counts in a related case, including causing unlawful damage and money laundering. The three are expected to reappear before the court on May 20, 2026, as police and prosecutors continue to work through a broader run of jewellery and gold-shop robbery investigations in Accra, including cases linked to Adabraka and Dzorwulu. For retailers, the lesson is brutal: high-value gold stock demands tighter physical security, faster inventory checks and more scrutiny of anyone offering to absorb untraceable pieces.