Ghanaian police arrest blackmailers who used Grindr to target gay men

In an unexpected move, police in Ghana have arrested two men who targeted gay men they found on Grindr.

The men, Torsu Stephen, 23, and Aikins Atitsogbe, 21, were arrested in the capital Accra after an unnamed victim reported they threatened to post naked photos of him on the internet if he did not pay them 1,000 cedi (£193).

The pair were arrested on charges of blackmail.

The victim worked with the police to set up a meeting with the blackmailers who were arrested when they showed up for the money.

According to the Tesano Divisional Police, the two suspects invited the victim to one of their houses on 1 April. Four other men joined them in the home where they reportedly locked the man in a room with them, robbed him of his mobile phone and wallet before stripping him naked and taking photos. The victim was blackmailed after his release four hours later.

Commenters on the article on GhanaWeb said the victim who reported the crime should also be jailed because he used the gay hookup site Grindr.

Male same-sexual activity is illegal in Ghana and can lead to up to three years in prison. There is a strong taboo against gay people in the country

Just last month, two Ghanaian men were forced to pose naked for photos before getting arrested for having gay sex in a Ghana hotel. (This news item was erroneously reported by the Nigerian media as having happened in a Unilag hostel in Lagos, instead of in Ghana)

Last year Ghanaian cleric Mallam Abass Mahmud claimed that gay sex “causes earthquakes”. In 2015, a Law lecturer in Ghana prophesied that churches risk “being dominated by homosexuals” if the clergy fails to stage a “blistering crusade” against same sex marriage.