A former security guard has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison after impersonating a cash collection officer and stealing £117,200 from a bank in the United Kingdom before fleeing to Ghana, where he evaded arrest for nearly four years.
The 40-year-old, Kwabena Kissi, was jailed by Snaresbrook Crown Court after pleading guilty to fraud by false representation in connection with the July 2022 theft. Prosecutors told the court that Kissi carried out the offence by exploiting his previous employment with a cash handling company to gain access to a bank’s secure cash collection process.
According to evidence presented in court, Kissi arrived at a Santander UK branch in Brixton, south London, wearing a G4S security uniform from a company he had left two years earlier. With his identity concealed by a crash helmet and face mask, bank staff believed he was a legitimate cash collection officer and escorted him to a secure area, where they handed over bags containing cash intended for collection.
Investigators said Kissi left the bank with the money before changing out of the uniform nearby, transferring the cash into a bin bag and leaving the area in an Uber. The fraud went unnoticed until the genuine G4S cash collection officer later arrived for the scheduled pickup, prompting staff to realise they had been deceived.
During the proceedings, prosecutor Imogen Nelson said the bank’s vault manager had prepared £256,000 in 11 cash bags for collection on the day of the incident. Although one employee questioned why Kissi had arrived earlier than expected, he reportedly claimed he had been assigned to a new route, easing the staff member’s concerns.
Following the theft, Kissi boarded a flight to Accra the next day and remained in Ghana for almost four years, where the court heard he had been living with his sick mother. His return to the UK on March 26 this year, however, brought an end to his time on the run.
Police, who had been monitoring for his return, arrested him shortly after he landed at Gatwick Airport. Investigators said the breakthrough came after Kissi booked an Uber using his real name and mobile phone number the same device that had been linked to the 2022 investigation. Although he initially denied being the suspect, evidence recovered from the phone connected him directly to the offence.
Kissi pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation in April, while a separate charge of possessing criminal property was later withdrawn. The conviction concludes a case prosecutors described as a carefully planned operation that exploited established security procedures and the trust of bank staff to facilitate the theft of a substantial sum of money.
