A former G4S security guard has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison in the United Kingdom after carrying out a £117,200 fraud at a Santander bank branch in south London before fleeing to Ghana, where he remained for nearly four years.
Kwabena Kissi, 40, admitted to fraud by false representation after posing as a G4S cash collection officer at the Santander branch in Brixton on July 5, 2022.
According to proceedings at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Kissi wore a G4S uniform from a job he had left two years earlier, along with a helmet with its visor down and a face mask, to convince bank staff he was carrying out a routine cash collection.
CCTV footage played in court showed staff allowing him into the secure cash office, where they handed him bags containing £117,200, believing he was an authorised courier.
The court heard that Santander vault manager Otis Williams had prepared £256,000 for collection that day across 11 cash bags. When a member of staff remarked that Kissi had arrived earlier than expected, he explained he was working a new collection route, raising no immediate suspicion.
After receiving the cash, Kissi calmly walked out of the bank with the money in a briefcase before changing his clothes nearby. He then transferred the cash into a bin bag and left the area in an Uber.
Bank staff only realised something was wrong when Kissi failed to return for a second scheduled collection and the genuine G4S courier later arrived to collect the cash.
Kissi travelled to Accra, Ghana, the day after the fraud and remained there for almost four years.
However, his plan unravelled when he returned to the UK on March 26 this year. Police, who had been monitoring for his return, arrested him at Gatwick Airport after he booked an Uber using his real name and the same phone number linked to the 2022 fraud.
Although Kissi initially claimed he had been mistaken for someone else, investigators matched the mobile phone to records connected to the offence.
In April, he pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. A separate charge of possessing criminal property was later dropped.
His defence lawyer, Piers Walter, told the court that Kissi had travelled to Ghana to care for his financially struggling mother, who later died of heart failure.
However, Judge Rosa Dean rejected that explanation, saying the evidence suggested he had fled the UK to avoid arrest after exploiting his inside knowledge of Santander’s cash collection procedures.
The judge also noted that while the fraud had left bank employees shaken, she was relieved none of the staff members faced disciplinary action over the incident.
Detective Constable Stuart Ponder, who led the Metropolitan Police investigation, said CCTV footage and mobile phone evidence linked Kissi to the getaway vehicle and ultimately led to his arrest.
He said investigators feared Kissi might never return to the UK after leaving the country a day after the fraud but added that the case demonstrated the Metropolitan Police’s determination to pursue high-value financial crimes, regardless of how long it takes to bring offenders to justice.
