IGP David Asante-Apeatu
The Ghana Police Service has denied reports of terror attack at the Accra Mall on Sunday afternoon.
ACP David Eklu, Director-General in-charge of Police Public Affairs, in a statement, said the police conducted security checks at the mall and found nothing.
Reports on social media on Sunday suggested that a day after Ghana won the case against Cote d’Ivoire in the maritime dispute case at the International Tribunal Law of the Sea (ITLOS), a group of armed terrorists besieged the Accra Mall, the largest shopping in the capital.
The reports indicated that shoppers on Sunday afternoon heard gunshots in the mall and a man wearing black mask ordered them to lie down on the floor.
According to the reports, the alleged terrorists immediately ordered the shoppers to throw away their mobile phones or be shot.
However, the Director-General of the police public affairs department said the police monitored the reports on social media.
He said security checks revealed that the information was false and cautioned those behind the publication of the false information to desist from it since it has serious security implications for the whole country.
“Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing to identify those behind the false information for necessary action to be taken,” ACP Eklu added.
Social media reports said that at about 3:20pm Sunday afternoon, the Osu Police in Accra were alerted by a phone call from one of the shoppers that terrorists, who are armed to the teeth and spoke only French, had attacked the mall.
While in the mall shopping, we heard gunshots and the man in a black mask ordered us to lie down on the floor. Fearing that we will alert the police, he quickly ordered us to throw away our mobile phones or be shot,” the reports suggested.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey