Wanderlust Ghana suspends trip over alleged vehicle theft

Wanderlust Ghana has suspended its road trip from Accra through Paris, Dubai, and Cape Town after authorities reported two of their vehicles as stolen.

The team, having covered an impressive 28,811 kilometers, halted their journey in Ngassi, Congo. Congolese officials identified the vehicles as stolen after verifying their Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN).

The disputed vehicles include a 2016 Lexus RX 350 and a 2018 Toyota Tacoma, purchased in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Providing an update on Facebook on Thursday, November 28, team member Kwabena Peprah clarified that they had conducted thorough checks before buying the cars from dealers in Accra. He stated that Carfax verifications confirmed the vehicles were clean at the time of purchase.

“In buying our current Tacoma in 2022, we first of all ran a carfax search on it and then went to customs to confirm duty payment. Both were successful and so we knew the car was safe to buy and we’ve had it for two years now.

“Saka bought his Raptor from a friend of his and he also went through the same process before taking possession.

“Franklin bought his Lexus from a car dealer in 2021 who had been given the car to sell by a bank. The bank had called in the collateral on an NPL and had to liquidate. It was already registered.

“Back at Ngassi, we completed all our paperwork and went to the police to exit. They run our VINs and announced to us that the Tacoma and Lexus were both reported as stolen in Canada. Imagine our shock.

“Within a matter of 30 minutes we’d been dispossessed of our passports and cars and we were being charged with vehicle theft,” he wrote on Facebook.

According to Kwabena Peprah, INTERPOL report says the TACOMA was reported stolen on 1st April 2022 while carfax verifies that a new owner was registered in the Canadian system on May 5, 2022.

He continued that the bill of lading covering the car, says the TACOMA was shipped out of Canada on May 7, 2022.

And GRA documents says the car was cleared on May 24, 2022.

“We saw it (TACOMA) on July 17th 2022. We performed the carfax search on July 18th 2022 and transferred the funds into the vendor’s account on same day.

“Then, according to this same Interpol, the theft was recorded in their system on February 13, 2024. With the Lexus, it was reported stolen on 8th October 2019. It was brought to Ghana and sold to someone,” he added.

The team has handed over the vehicles to security officials in the Republic of the Congo, and authorities in Ghana and Canada are investigating the matter.

They shipped a third vehicle, a Ford F150 Raptor, back to Ghana from Pointe-Noire. Wanderlust Ghana has pledged full cooperation with the investigations and plans to take legal action against the sellers.

“Tomorrow morning, we will be at the police station to commence criminal proceedings against our vendors while pursuing civil proceedings to recover our funds,” Kwabena Peprah stated in an update.

“We are currently looking to purchase a new fleet of three cars to complete the current expedition and use them for future ones. If any vehicle distributor is interested in partnering with us, our doors are open,” Kwabena added.