Accra-London by road: Why expeditioners were detained in Mauritania for close to 9 hours

A group of Ghanaians who recently completed a road trip from Accra to London, covering 10,000 kilometers have opened up about the challenges they encountered throughout their journey, especially at the Mauritanian border.

The adventurers recounted their ordeal in an interview on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo, highlighting the diversity of landscapes, road conditions, and border crises they faced along the way. “In our country, our roads are not good, so we couldn’t speed up, but for the other places where the roads are good, we were able to cover up to 1,000 kilometers in a day.”

One of the teammates, Teddy Peprah revealed during the interview that the most challenging leg of their expedition was when they got to the Mauritanian border.

He alleged that they were subjected to extortion and detention due to alleged border breaches and the presence of tinted glass in their vehicles.

“From Cote d’Ivoire, then we climbed the Mali border all the way to Senegal, we rested in Senegal for two days and used the days for servicing the cars, so we changed all the brake pads and others.

“So, we moved straight to Mauritania, for that place, Chairman General, respectfully we shouldn’t have said this on your program but frankly speaking they are not humanly friendly, they are not humanly friendly at all, they abused us, they are extortionists.

“There are so many stories about that border, at the Rosso border…they really went extreme, we sat there close to nine hours, we spent three hours at the border and later detained us for close to six hours.

“They said we were using tinted glass for the first two cars that entered the border, so we had to remove it , and after removing it, they said we should pay a fine for about seventy Euros, we paid them but after paying, they said they were detaining the cars for forty-eight hours also… it was from there that we drove to Morocco,” he added.

He revealed how former Ghanaian international and three-time African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele aided their journey from Morocco to Spain.

“It has been an interesting journey if not for some borders where you have to pay immigration fees and other monies they demand from us, I would say people have been happy with our journey.

“For instance, when we arrived in Rabat (Morocco) heading to Tangier, we met this police rider who asked us where we come from and we answered Ghana, then he asked Abedi Pele”?

“From there he turned on his siren and led us through the highway just because he was happy with the name Abedi Pele. Where we have been to, when we mention Abedi Pele, Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan, we receive the best of treatment.”