Istanbul Airport in Turkey
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4th March, 2013
2 Ghanaians Stranded At Istanbul Airport
Two Ghanaians in their mid-thirties, who paid money to a ‘connection man’ to facilitate their trips to Mexico, are stranded at the Istanbul Airport in Turkey.
Mr Genesis Kofi Bonsu, from Oforikrom and Mr Eric Osei from Suame, both in the Ashanti Region, told the ‘Ghanaian Times’ that they paid GH¢4,000 each, to the middleman whose name they gave only as ‘Daniel’, in Accra, and he gave them the assurance of connecting them from Accra to Mexico, via Turkey.
However, on their arrival in Istanbul, on Wednesday, February 27, to connect a flight to Mexico, they were told by the Immigration and other security officials in Turkey that their flight ticket was fake.
Besides, their names were not in the manifest.
The desperate looking victims were seen at the Turkquisine, a food court at the departure lounge at the airport.
Narrating their ordeal, they said prior to their departure to Turkey, they got stranded in Accra for a week before incurring extra cost since they checked in a hotel.
According to them, when they contacted Daniel from Turkey on the challenges they were encountering, he assured them of rectifying the anomaly but had since not been able to get them the appropriate ticket.
They suspected that Daniel had duped them saying “even though we have paid him the full cost of the tickets and he had subsequently given us print-outs, Turkish immigration officials told us the tickets were invalid.”
‘The possibility was that Daniel had booked online without paying, or had paid for only Accra-Turkey route or, paid and subsequently cancelled the Turkey-Mexico connection’.
They contended that they had been stranded at the airport for days counting their hope and claimed that since morning of Saturday March 2, they had eaten a only loaf of bread and an apple which was given to them by a good Samaritan called Edwin.
Even though the situation looked bleak for them Eric Osei had hope of some help because he had contacted his sister, a resident of the United States who had assured him of buying him the ticket.
Speaking to the ‘Ghanaian Times’, Edwin who said he was traveling from Croatia to Egypt on business transaction, but lived in Dansoman Exhibition anytime he was in Accra, said he got attracted to the strange behaviour of the victims and decided to help them reach out to Daniel in Accra.
Edwin explained that the situation of the victims was serious since they cannot go out of the airport, and the possibility that they could be arrested was high because they had been at the Immigration counter several times making enquiries for confirmation of the ticket anomaly Daniel claims to be resolving.
Besides, he said, they the more days they spend at the airport, the more suspicious they become.
Mr Genesis Kofi Bonsu, from Oforikrom and Mr Eric Osei from Suame, both in the Ashanti Region, told the ‘Ghanaian Times’ that they paid GH¢4,000 each, to the middleman whose name they gave only as ‘Daniel’, in Accra, and he gave them the assurance of connecting them from Accra to Mexico, via Turkey.
However, on their arrival in Istanbul, on Wednesday, February 27, to connect a flight to Mexico, they were told by the Immigration and other security officials in Turkey that their flight ticket was fake.
Besides, their names were not in the manifest.
The desperate looking victims were seen at the Turkquisine, a food court at the departure lounge at the airport.
Narrating their ordeal, they said prior to their departure to Turkey, they got stranded in Accra for a week before incurring extra cost since they checked in a hotel.
According to them, when they contacted Daniel from Turkey on the challenges they were encountering, he assured them of rectifying the anomaly but had since not been able to get them the appropriate ticket.
They suspected that Daniel had duped them saying “even though we have paid him the full cost of the tickets and he had subsequently given us print-outs, Turkish immigration officials told us the tickets were invalid.”
‘The possibility was that Daniel had booked online without paying, or had paid for only Accra-Turkey route or, paid and subsequently cancelled the Turkey-Mexico connection’.
They contended that they had been stranded at the airport for days counting their hope and claimed that since morning of Saturday March 2, they had eaten a only loaf of bread and an apple which was given to them by a good Samaritan called Edwin.
Even though the situation looked bleak for them Eric Osei had hope of some help because he had contacted his sister, a resident of the United States who had assured him of buying him the ticket.
Speaking to the ‘Ghanaian Times’, Edwin who said he was traveling from Croatia to Egypt on business transaction, but lived in Dansoman Exhibition anytime he was in Accra, said he got attracted to the strange behaviour of the victims and decided to help them reach out to Daniel in Accra.
Edwin explained that the situation of the victims was serious since they cannot go out of the airport, and the possibility that they could be arrested was high because they had been at the Immigration counter several times making enquiries for confirmation of the ticket anomaly Daniel claims to be resolving.
Besides, he said, they the more days they spend at the airport, the more suspicious they become.
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