A 39-year-old Austrian, Thomas Wild faces a possible deportation to his native country after Immigration officials arrested him together with his Nigerian accomplice for engaging in homosexual activities.

According to officials of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the operations unit of the service acting on a tip-off mounted a surveillance on the activities of Mr. Wild and subsequently apprehended him and his Nigerian partner at their hideout in a hotel at Tantra Hills in Accra.

Mr. Wild carried out his activities with the assistance of his contacts in Europe and Ghana. According to available information on his escapades, he approaches unemployed young men with the promise of assisting them to acquire visas to Europe and succeed in taking advantage of his unsuspecting victims. Mr. Thomas Wild has confessed to the production and marketing of pornographic films. He also stated that he paid each ?actor? one hundred euros per film. During a search conducted in his room, the immigration officials discovered and retrieved several obscene pornographic materials, which included 7 audio-visual discs that contained pornographic pictures and films showing the suspect having unnatural sexual relations with persons of African descent who were predominantly black.

Most of the films that were shot in Africa had titles such as ?African entertainment?, ?African joy?, ?in the African heat? and ?gay in Africa?. The officials also found several gadgets, which he used in pursuit of his trade, consisting of a digital camera, video camera, vibrators, over 50 digital videotapes, lubricants and undeveloped films. The immigration officials have since seized the gadgets and the pornographic materials.

Under section 104 of the criminal code 1960 (Act 29), having unnatural canal knowledge of another person is a criminal offence in Ghana, punishable by imprisonment. The law explains ?unnatural canal knowledge? to consist of having sexual intercourse with a person of the same sex or an animal. Furthermore, it recognizes sexual intercourse to be legal only when it involves two adults of opposite sex.

If Mr. Thomas Wild were prosecuted under this law, he would face a possible jail term of between 5 years and 25 years with no option of a fine and or deportation.

It is however unclear whether the accused would be tried under this law since immigration officials have already hinted of a possible court fine and deportation of Mr. Thomas Wild, which they noted is the normal procedure. Meanwhile, his Nigerian counterpart has already been deported. It is believed that there are several of Mr. Wild and his Nigerian counterpart currently operating in the country. Most of these individuals are believed to be operating through gay clubs in educational institutions especially second cycle and tertiary institutions.