The three kidnap victims
Families of the three kidnapped girls in Takoradi have called on the Police Administration to investigate the policeman who allegedly aided the first suspect in the kidnap case from the Takoradi police cells.
It would be recalled that the first Nigerian suspected kidnapper, Samuel Udoetuk Wills, who has been jailed for escaping from police cells, revealed during one of the court proceedings that he was aided by a police officer to escape.
At a joint news conference in Takoradi yesterday, the family members claimed that after Samuel Wills was jailed for escaping from lawful custody, nothing was heard about the allegation by the Nigerian. They said they later got to know that two police officers had since been transferred from the Takoradi Division of Police.
“We are so desperate for news about our daughters and their whereabouts,” they said and added that the loud silence by the government over the issue was worrying.
Michael Koranchie, a brother of one of the girls, Priscilla Koranchie, said it was time for the Ghana Police Service and some government officials to stop raising their hopes about the missing girls and later ignore them. “They should also stop the false information they give to you the media about the case,” he added.
According to him, it had been over a month since the arrest of the second suspect in the case, John Oji, yet they had received no information from the police.
“The first suspect Samuel Wills has stated in court that the second suspect John Oji knows the whereabouts of our girls and that should he (Oji) be found, he could show where the girls are,” he said, adding “the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service led by COP Tiwaa Addo -Danquah also organised a press conference to tell the whole country that they know where the girls are.”
Continuing, he said “the CID boss indicated that the girls were safe and they would be brought home soon only for her to make a U-turn after media backslash to say that she was misunderstood and that she only said that to comfort the grieving family.”
“Mr Bryan Acheampong was recently quoted as saying that the location of the girls was known and that the security agencies were working assiduously to bring them to their families. If you know where the girls are, why don’t you go and bring them?”he queried.
“What is most shocking is how the Ghana Police Service and National Security operatives were able to gather all arsenal to rescue the two missing Canadian nationals three weeks after they were reported missing,” adding “so we ask, why can’t the same security agencies in the country use that Usain Bolt speed to bring back our girls?”
It would be recalled that immediately the Canadian girls were kidnapped, the matter was reported to the police but in the case of the Takoradi girls, the police got to know about the incidents more than three weeks after the kidnappings.
The police even said the families negotiated for ransom for the girls before they got to know.
The families, therefore, called on the Christian Council of Ghana, the Muslim community, civil society groups and the diplomatic missions to intervene and help find the three kidnapped girls.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi