Thirty-one (31) people alleged to be part of recent secessionists’ activities in the Volta Region were yesterday remanded by an Accra Circuit Court.
The group is pushing a so-called Western Togoland agenda and has been causing trouble in the region in recent times as part of the effort to ‘secede’ from Ghana.
The suspects made up of 30 males and a 19-year-old female were picked up from the Volta Region last Friday for their alleged involvement in riots that blocked vehicular movement on busy highways close to Juapong on the Accra-Ho highway as well as the Accra Aflao highway.
The ‘rebels’ claimed to have kidnapped three police officers after storming the Aveyime and Mepe police stations, a claim which has not been verified.
A joint military and police operation which later rid the road of the secessionist blockade led to the arrest of 29 persons who were immediately flown via helicopter to Accra for interrogation.
Court Appearance
The accused persons were hauled before an Accra Circuit Court yesterday charged with four counts of conspiracy to commit crime, attending meeting of a prohibited organisation, Western Togoland, and rioting with weapons.
The prosecution led by ASP Sylvester Asare prayed the court to remand the accused persons to enable the police to conduct further investigations into the issue.
He told the court that the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the National Security as well as other security agencies had already left Accra for the Volta Region to investigate the matter.
He, therefore, pleaded with the court not to take the plea of the accused persons as the court does not have the jurisdiction to do so due to the location where the accused persons were arrested.
ASP Asare stated that the prosecution had brought the accused persons for them to be properly remanded by the court in fulfilment of the constitutional provision.
Defence
The Counsel for the accused persons, Theophilus Donkor, opposed the move by the prosecution saying the fact that the plea of the accused persons were not taken did not prohibit the court from granting them bail.
He said once the accused persons had been presented before a court, that court can exercise its jurisdiction to admit the accused persons to bail.
Remand
The presiding judge, Rosemary Tosu, after listening to the prosecution and the defence took the accused persons into the custody of BNI to aid the prosecution in investigations.
The court ordered the BNI officials to grant access to lawyers of the accused persons, their relatives, and also ensure that the basic needs of the accused persons are provided.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak