A section of the public are accusing the Ghana Police Service of a cover-up in the facts presented in connection with some police officers caught in galamsey site for extortion.
The embarrassing episode has since gone viral with calls for the interdiction of the affected officers.
The public raised the concerns after juxtaposing what transpired in the viral video with the statement relased by the Public Affairs Directorate of the Police Seevice.
Per the statement, the Axim Divisional Police patrol team on March 9, 2023 reported an attack on the team by a gang that seized the magazine of a Service rifle together with some mobile phones belonging to the Police officers.
According to the police statement, an intelligence operation was immediately launched after the report to get the suspects arrested.
On March 28, 2023, after about three weeks of the intelligence operation four men were arrested for their suspected involvement in the attack.
However, the public who have keenly followed the story have questioned the timelines in the arrest and the released of the video into the public domain.
They strongly believe that the suspects released the video after noticing that either the police officers involved in the case or the Axim Division have portrayed a different picture as to what really happened to their superiors including the Inspector General of Police in Accra.
The public are of the strong conviction that there is a cover-up in the matter since the suspects appear to have familarities with the personnel, considering the fact that they mentioned some of them their names and openly stated that they have been giving them money but yet kept harassing them for more.
“When you watch and listen to the video. You see and hear two of the police officers kneeling and pleading and admitting that what they did was very wrong. So where from the attack in this video. I think the IGP must carefully watch the video and listen to the content,” one of the concerned people stated.
Another person indicated that “The Galamsey boys disarmed the police so with the missing ammunition they had lied of attack from the boys.”
After carefully watching the video, they said the action of the youngmen was to expose the police personnel and not to attack.
According to them, either the police have done a shoddy work as far as the investigations is concerned or deliberately covering up for the personnel involved.
They are demanding the immediate interdiction of all the officers involved including the Operations Commander and the Divisional Commander of the area.
This comes after the police said it had arrested four persons who allegedly attacked police personnel in the Western Region in a viral video.
Names of the four men were given as Kojo Siah alias Mozey; Emmanuel Mensah alias Kofi Asamoah, Maxwell Cudjoe and Agyabu Haruna Dissawu
According to the police, a search conducted at the residence of Kwame Ato Asare Ani, the prime suspect, who is still on the run, led to the retrieval of three pump-action shotguns.
Also, one pump-action shotgun, machetes and eight BB refilled cartridges were retrieved from the suspect’s unregistered Honda CRV vehicle.
Other items retrieved from the suspects include two live refilled BB cartridges and one unregistered motorbike.
In the statement, police said on April 1, 2023, while the investigations were ongoing to get the remaining suspects arrested, it attention was drawn to video footage in which the said Police personnel, members of the Axim Patrol team, are shown pleading with members of the gang while the gang is alleging extortion by the officers.
Meanwhile, the police said it has referred the allegation of extortion against the officers to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSP) for investigation after arraigning all the suspects in the reported attack on the patrol team, who had been arrested, have been put before court and have been remanded in custody.
It continued that efforts are continuing to get the remaining suspects arrested.
By Vincent Kubi