BY GRACE ZIGAH
The Ghana Police Service has arrested two foreign nationals over the alleged kidnapping and murder of Cheikh Toure, a Senegalese goalkeeper, whose death in Kumasi in October 2025 triggered investigations into a suspected football recruitment scam.
The arrests, announced on September 26, 2026, follow a sustained intelligence-led operation that has taken investigators nearly a year from the discovery of the victim’s death to the apprehension of two suspects allegedly linked to the crime.
The suspects have been identified as Salifu Walid, 32, a Nigerien national, and Aziz Wadrago Mane, 24, a Burkinabe. Police arrested the two on September 20, 2026, at a hideout in Banpanase near Mamponteng in the Ashanti Region.
The case dates back to October 16, 2025, when persons who claimed to be brothers of Cheikh Toure took him to the Manhyia Hospital in Kumasi.
According to the police account, the men told hospital authorities that the goalkeeper had been involved in an accident.
However, Toure reportedly arrived at the facility with multiple abdominal injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Rather than remaining at the hospital or assisting investigators to establish what had happened, the individuals who brought him there subsequently deposited his body at the Ebenezer Mortuary at Tafo, Kumasi, before disappearing.
That development became a critical part of the subsequent investigation, particularly as the men had presented themselves as relatives of the deceased.
According to preliminary investigations cited in the police statement, the two arrested suspects are allegedly members of a four-person group suspected of masterminding the kidnapping and murder.
Investigators believe the group operated under the guise of football scout agents, using online networks to identify and lure unsuspecting victims to Ghana.
Police say the emerging evidence points to an alleged scheme in which the suspects used the promise or appearance of football scouting opportunities as a means of bringing victims into the country.
Toure, a Senegalese goalkeeper, was allegedly lured to Ghana through this network before the circumstances that eventually led to his death.
Police said that during interrogation, both arrested suspects admitted their involvement in the crime and provided investigators with information concerning their respective roles.
According to the police, the suspects gave information about how they allegedly participated in luring Toure to Ghana as part of the suspected scheme to defraud him.
The admissions, according to the police account, have helped investigators piece together the activities of the group and identify other individuals suspected of playing roles in the alleged operation.
The police have not, however, indicated that the investigation has been completed. While two suspects are now in custody, police investigations are continuing to locate two other alleged members of the group.
The police have identified them as Noukoubri Arzouma Sylviain, also known as Prince Pierre, and Barry.
Both are currently on the run and are believed by investigators to have played central roles in the group’s activities.
The Ghana Police Service said efforts have therefore been intensified to arrest the two wanted suspects.
