By Grace Zigah
A former security guard who fled to Ghana after allegedly orchestrating a sophisticated bank fraud in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison after returning to Britain nearly four years later.
Forty-year-old Kwabena Kissi was sentenced by the Snaresbrook Crown Court after pleading guilty to one count of fraud by false representation in connection with the theft of £117,200 from a Santander UK branch in Brixton, South London, in July 2022.
The conviction brings to an end a case that investigators described as a carefully planned deception involving the misuse of a former employer’s security uniform and established cash collection procedures to gain the confidence of bank staff before making away with a substantial amount of money.
According to evidence presented before the court, the incident occurred on July 5, 2022, when Kissi arrived at the Santander branch dressed in a G4S security uniform despite having left the company two years earlier.
To conceal his identity, he wore a crash helmet with the visor lowered and covered his face with a protective mask, giving bank employees the impression that he was a legitimate cash collection officer.
Believing he had arrived for an authorised cash collection, staff escorted him into a secure area where bags containing cash were handed over to him. Security camera footage later presented in court reportedly captured Kissi calmly leaving the banking hall carrying the cash.
Prosecutors told the court that after leaving the premises, he changed out of the security uniform at a nearby location, transferred the stolen cash into a refuse bag and later left the area in an Uber vehicle.
During the trial, prosecutor Imogen Nelson disclosed that the bank’s vault manager, Otis Williams, had prepared approximately £256,000 for collection in 11 separate cash bags that day.
Although one employee questioned why the supposed collection officer had arrived earlier than scheduled, Kissi reportedly explained that he had been assigned to a “new route,” a response that eased the staff member’s concerns and allowed the transaction to proceed.
The fraud was only discovered after Kissi failed to return for another scheduled collection and the genuine G4S cash collection officer later arrived at the bank to collect the funds.
Court records revealed that Kissi travelled from the United Kingdom to Accra just one day after the theft and remained in Ghana for almost four years.
Reports indicated that during his stay, he lived with his ailing mother while remaining outside the reach of British law enforcement authorities.
However, his period on the run came to an end on March 26, 2026, when he travelled back to the United Kingdom.
Investigators told the court that police officers had been monitoring for his return.
His arrest was reportedly triggered after he booked an Uber using his real name and the same mobile phone number investigators had linked to the original fraud investigation.
He was arrested shortly after arriving at Gatwick Airport.
During police interrogation, Kissi initially denied being the suspect and claimed officers had mistaken his identity. However, investigators successfully matched evidence recovered from his mobile phone with information gathered during the investigation, linking him directly to the 2022 offence.
In April 2026, Kissi pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation before the court. A separate charge relating to possession of criminal property was subsequently withdrawn by prosecutors.
The sentencing concludes an investigation that authorities say exposed weaknesses in cash collection procedures and demonstrated how a former employee was able to exploit established security systems to execute one of the more unusual bank fraud cases in recent years.
