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| Stars of ‘TV3 Mentor’ arrested |
10/9/2007 |
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A touted European prize for the premier finalists of TV3’s Mentor Series, Andy, Prince, Maya and Ruth, has turned into shattered dreams and tears behind bars at the Police Headquarters in Accra.
Police sources said the 10-hour ordeal of the four rising music stars started at the British High Commission in Accra where they had been led last Monday by an Accra-based travel and tour operator to procure UK visas.
It was an early morning venture for which the four had arrived from various parts of the country with great excitement at the prospect of beginning their journey to a six-month educational tour of London, as the most coveted of the prizes they won as finalists at the first Mentor reality show of TV3.
Led by one Ben Odametey, who had earlier been introduced to the four as the tour operator acting on behalf of TV3, the Mentor stars were going through document verification when two plain-clothe policemen, invited by British High Commission officials, turned up to effect their arrest.
The tour operator and a fifth person, identified as a cameraman called Bismark and who was to travel with the Mentor stars, were also arrested by the police.
Upon arrival at the Police Headquarters, few metres away, they were informed that they had been arrested for presenting fake documents in support of their visa applications.
In utter shock and disappointment, Maya and Ruth, the two ladies among them broke down in tears while Odametey, the tour operator, made frantic efforts to calm them down and arrange for someone to turn up and stand surety for them.
At the same time, Maya also made fruitless attempts to contact Ruby, her manager at TV3, while the others tried without success to reach Sammy Adanu, head of entertainment at TV3.
According to one of the managers of the stars, they were picked at about 9am and it was well past 5.00pm that someone at Tema responded to the plea of Odametey and turned up to stand surety for them.
He said upon the friend’s arrival they were made to write their statements and released on bail to report the following day.
Graphic Showbiz later learnt that the trip to London was not part of the original prize package put together by TV3. According to TV3 sources, the trip to London was provided by the tour operator as his sponsorship for the reality show.
However, the source said, after securing the endorsement of the programme organisers, Mr Odametey sought to exploit it to the service of his own clients. This he did by introducing other persons into the travel arrangement without the knowledge of TV3 or the four award winners, thus, the embarrassing development at the High Commission and the Police Headquarters.
The police is conducting further investigations into the matter.
Source:
Graphic Showbiz
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