Simon Osei-Mensah
THE ASHANTI Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has started an operation it has termed as ‘silent swoops’ aimed at reducing crimes in the region.
The Head of REGSEC and Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, said that REGSEC was not happy with reported cases of murder, robbery and other violent crimes in the region lately and it had adopted a special strategy to contain the menace.
“Silently, the police have been conducting swoops in areas that we suspect to be the abode of criminals in order to apprehend them even before they could plan to strike,” the minister said on Tuesday.
According to him, the perception that REGSEC is not doing enough to combat crimes in the region, especially the killing of innocent women, should be treated with the greatest contempt.
“We are doing our best to combat crimes but as we all know, when it comes to the commission of crimes, the perpetrators always have an advantage but we would surely defeat them,” he stressed.
Mr. Osei-Mensah also announced that police patrols, especially in the regional capital of Kumasi, had been increased lately, adding that REGSEC wanted to bring all forms of crime in the region under control.
Besides, as part of efforts to halt the killing of women, the minister noted that police regularly arrested prostitutes, who are usually the target of the killers, to help prevent such senseless killings.
According to him, a number of the prostitutes, who are foreigners, have been deported to their various countries with the help of the Ghana Immigration Service.
The minister also announced that a number of street lights had been fixed at vantage parts of Kumasi in order to prevent criminals from operating.
He disclosed that one suspect had been nabbed in connection with the killing of Ruth Arhin, a nurse at Ayuom, near Sewua, and was being interrogated by police.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi