IGP David Asante-Apeatu
The three police officers, who were arrested for renting their AK 47 rifles to suspected armed robbers at Weija, have been interdicted by the police administration.
They are Sergeant Stanley Mensah, Corporal Emmanuel Takyi-Mensah, both attached to the Weija District Police Command, and Corporal Simon Osei of the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) headquarters.
A statement issued and signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) David Eklu, stated that the three had been found culpable of selling AK 47 rifle to a civilian at Weija.
He said the three personnel, including the civilian, identified as Ibrahim Tetteh, are currently in police custody and would be processed for court soon.
He noted that the said AK 47 rifle had also been recovered by the police.
The three police officers were arrested last Saturday after news broke that they had rented AK 47 rifles to suspected armed robbers for a fee of GH¢1,500.
Sources said the three police personnel were picked up when the suspected armed robbers, currently in police custody, got involved in an accident while escaping from a robbery operation.
Police sources indicated that the incident occurred on Saturday, April 21, 2018 at Kokrobitey Junction in Accra.
A taxi from Kasoa direction and heading towards Accra somersaulted and landed into a ditch.
Immediately after the accident, two police personnel arrived at the scene not to rescue the accident victims, but to pick an AK 47 rifle and its magazine.
Passersby and other witnesses were amazed by the action of the personnel and started complaining.
The sources said a retired police officer later appeared at the scene and after he had been told of the accident and the action of the cops felt it was not normal and reported the matter to the Anti-Armed Robbery Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for investigation to be conducted into the incident.
They claimed the retired police officer helped to transport the victims to the Police Hospital for treatment.
While at the hospital, the victims reportedly confessed that they rented the guns from the police officers, adding that they rent weapons from them anytime they need them (weapons) for their operations.
According to a source, “They said on that fateful day, they were returning from Accra after an operation when their vehicle got involved in an accident.”
Through investigations, the Anti-Armed Robbery Unit arrested the three cops for interrogation.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey