A police officer has been arrested by the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in connection with a robbery incident involving a gold dealer from Burkina Faso.
The suspected officer believed to be the driver in charge of the police vehicle used for the alleged $209,172 gold robbery incident is in the custody assisting with investigations.
Two police officers were on Monday, February 8, 2021, accused of robbing a business man of about $209,172, which was believed to be proceeds from a gold business.
The incident occurred last Sunday at a spot near Abeka Lapaz, Accra, at about 1:30pm.
The personnel, yet to be identified, were said to be driving a police vehicle with registration, GP 3513, at the time of the alleged incident.
Superintendent Sheilla Abayie Buckman, Director in charge of the Public Affairs Department, Headquarters, when contacted, confirmed that a police officer was picked up by the investigating team to assist in the case in which his vehicle number was mentioned.
She said the police would not relent in getting all the suspects involved in the case arrested.
“The suspected police officer was grabbed same day the issue was reported at the Tesano Police Station and he is assisting us with investigations,” she said and refused to add more details.
Meanwhile, sources have revealed that the accused police officers committed the offence with the help of some persons believed to be civilians.”
It is believed that the suspects trailed the complainant from Ghana’s border in the Upper East Region to Accra where he was to meet his business partner for the supposed gold transaction.
The complainant is alleged to have entered the country by road to meet his client in Accra.
In a statement to the police, the complainant said the officers allegedly crossed him with their vehicle and attempted to question him for not wearing his nose mask at a spot close to Abeka, Lapaz.
He claimed the two policemen ended up robbing him of all his cash, totaling $209,172, before they sped off without arresting him for the so-called face mask offence they claimed he committed.
The victim, according to police information, is a gold dealer from Burkina Faso, operating in the country.
He was said to be returning to his hotel after he had gone to sell gold, when the police accosted him and “robbed” him of the money.
Police Confirmation
The Divisional Police Commander at Tesano, ACP Oduro Amaning, when contacted, confirmed the incident and said investigations had since commenced to get to the police officers involved.
He said the complainant whose name was given as Sulleman Sodre, reported that on Sunday afternoon he met one Alhaji Abdul, a business partner, at a spot close to Abeka-Lapaz to sell gold valued at $209,172.
He said while the complainant was on his way to a nearby guest house in a company of a friend, two police officers in charge of a police vehicle crossed their vehicle to question them for not wearing nose mask.
“The complainant said, in an attempt to answer the officers, one of the policemen asked them where the gold cash was, and, immediately, they took the money from them and bolted,” he said.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey