Kwame Ato Asare
The alleged prime suspect in the Axim galamsey drama seemed to have made a lot of money from the alleged duties he claimed the police in Axim entrusted to him.
Kwame Ato Asare Ani has claimed that because he knows all illegal mining or galamsey sites in the area, the police engaged him to periodically lead them to galamsey sites to extort money from the illegal miners.
The alleged prime suspect, who resides at Gwira Kwekukrom in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region, claims that aside his two-storey residential building, he is also building an 86-bedroom hotel in the municipality.
The purported suspect disclosed this in various interviews he granted.
He Ordered Closure Of Schools
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Kwame Ato Asare once ordered the closure of some schools in the farming community over a missing mobile phone.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Nzema East Municipal Assembly, Dorcas Amoah, made this startling revelation.
She said the first time she heard about Kwame Ato Asare Ani was when some settler farmers were having a funeral and the alleged prime suspect and his ‘boys’ stormed the funeral grounds to foment trouble.
She said the gang leader was arrested at the time, and the issue is still pending in court.
“But I got involved in the case because most of the settler farmers were Northerners, and they reported the case to me,” she added.
She said in the midst of the chaos at the funeral grounds, the alleged prime suspect’s mobile phone got missing. He then warned that if those who stole his mobile phone did not return it, no child in the area should go to school.
According to the MCE, it took the intervention of the Educational Director, REGSEC, teachers, and community stakeholders to bring the situation under control before students could attend school.
She explained: “I had to come in and later went to the community where the incident happened with the Educational Director, REGSEC, and all heads of department to meet with teachers of the schools.”
She said this was because the teachers were afraid and parents were also unwilling to allow their children to go to school.
The MCE indicated that, Kwame Ato Asare Ani had been granted bail after his arrest, so he was present at the meeting, adding “That was when I got to know him.”
“So we discussed the issue and we were able to resolve it, and the children were able to go to school now,” she noted.
Meanwhile, the purported prime suspect, who is on police wanted list, has denied allegations levelled against him by the Police Service that he is an armed robber.
He stressed that he is not an armed robber but a police informant in the Axim area.
Background
In a video that went viral, the gang leader was seen accosting a police officer and accusing the officer of attempting to arrest him after he had given him money.
The Ghana Police Service reacted to the video in a statement which said it arrested some four men on March 28, 2023 after the Axim Divisional Police Patrol Team reported an attack on them by a gang.
According to the police, it also conducted a search at the residence of Kwame Ato Asare Ani, where some weapons and other items were retrieved.
The statement disclosed that, the allegation of extortion by the alleged attackers has since been referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) for investigations.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi