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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Dawn swoop lands peace officers in trouble

POLICE AVERT BLOODY CLASH
… After arresting officers are declared armed robbers
Posted: The Chronicle | Thursday, November 19, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & George K. Frimpong


Good professional conduct exhibited by police personnel detailed to effect the arrest of a suspect at Teshie, a suburb of Accra, averted what could have been a bloody clash in the early hours of Wednesday.
Upon seeing the police, the suspect intentionally raised a false alarm by making call to the police headquarters asking them to come to his rescue, as he was being attacked by armed robbers.

However, a team of over twenty armed police personnel, who were dispatched from the police headquarters to rescue him and his family from the supposed robbers, exercised the greatest sense of caution and restraint, when they got to the scene around 3:00 a.m.

Unknown to the police personnel, who had been dispatched from the police headquarters, the supposed robbers were their own colleagues, who had been detailed from the Accra West divisional headquarters at Kaneshie to arrest the suspect, a certain Kofi Boateng, who has eluded the police for several months, after allegedly defrauding another man of a whopping amount of GH¢18,000 (the equivalent of 180 million old cedis) under the pretext of providing him 40 drums of ethanol.

Sources at the divisional headquarters told The Chronicle that upon reaching the house at Teshie, where the suspect was hiding, the police, some of whom were in mufti, went straight to knock on his door.

His wife then showed up at the door, and inquired from the police what their mission was.

The security men then told the lady that they had been sent to bring her husband to the station, and proceeded to ask her of his whereabouts.

But, the lady reportedly told the police that her husband was not around.

The source told the paper that they suspected mischief, since they saw somebody moving about in the room.

Even before the police could take any action, another team of police pesponnel, in three police patrol vehicles, arrived at the scene ready for action.

But for the sighting one of the men from the Accra West divisional headquarters, who was in uniform, the police officers from the Police Headquarters would have opened fire on their on their colleagues, who had gone to the house in a private vehicle.

According to the police, this could have resulted in a bloody clash if they had not exercised the highest level of professionalism, considering the report they received when the desperate call came in.

When The Chronicle contacted the Accra West Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Michael Kportufe Avadetsi, he confirmed the incident, but indicated that there was no confrontation between the two teams of police officers.

He told the paper that his men booked entry at the Kaneshie Police station before proceeding to Teshie for the operation, and subsequently when they got to Teshie where the suspect was hiding, they went to the station to inform the police officers there about their intended arrest.

According to him, the complaint in the case claims to have given an amount GH¢18,000 to one Nii Mensah to provide him with 40 drums of lentils alcohol, who in turn paid the money into the suspect’s (Boateng’s) bank account, since he had made claims that he was a worker at the Osu Castle, and that some of the products were being auctioned at the seat of government.

Five months down the line, Chief Supt Avadetsi said the Boateng had failed to produce the product, and also eluded the police, until he was arrested in the early hours of yesterday, and was now in custody.