Fake US embassy uncovered in Ghana after several years of issuing visas

Authorities in Ghana have busted a fake U.S. embassy in the capital Accra, run by a criminal network that had issued visas illegally for one decade, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

The statement noted that until its shutdown this summer, the sham embassy was housed in a run-down, pink two-storey building with a corrugated iron roof and flew a U.S. flag outside it.

It hung the portrait of U.S. President, Barack Obama, inside it.

The U.S. statement added that “it was not operated by the United States Government, but by figures from both Ghanaian and Turkish organised crime rings and a Ghanaian attorney practising immigration and criminal law.”

Turkish citizens who spoke English and Dutch posed as consular officers and staffed the operation.

Investigations also uncovered a fake Dutch embassy, the State Department said.

Officials in the Netherlands were not immediately reachable for comment on Sunday.

The crime ring issued fraudulently obtained but legitimate U.S. visas and false identification documents, including birth certificates at a cost of 6,000 dollars each.