The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) says it targeted swoop conducted on Tuesday March 7, 2023, in Ashaiman and its environs is in a man-hunt for some criminals, who are suspected to have stabbed and killed a young soldier,
Trooper Imoro Sherrif in the early hours of Saturday, March 4, 2023, at Ashaiman-Taifa.
Trooper Sherrif, who was stationed in Sunyani, was in Accra on a Course and had sought permission to visit his parents at Ashaiman where he grew up, but was found in a pool of blood in the early hours of Saturday near the Amania Hotel in Ashaiman.
In a statement released by GAF and signed by Brigadier General E Aggrey-Quashie, GAF Director General, Public Relations mentioned that the operations at Ashaiman-Taifa and Tulaku led to the arrest of about 184 suspects aged between 21 and 47 years old and have since been handed them over to the Military Police and subsequently to be sent to the Ghana Police Service for screening and for further action.
It further states the personnel also seized 29 slabs and 57 mini slabs of suspected indian hemp and amnesia among other forms of narcotics.
The Ghana Armed Forces indicated that the military operation, which was sanctioned by the Military High Command, was not to avenge the killing of the soldier but rather to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
It stressed that “We wish to place on record that the swoop was not targeted at innocent civilians but was an intelligence–led operation conducted on suspected hideouts of criminals and crime-prone areas in the general area.
“GAF however acknowledges that regrettably some innocent persons might have been caught up in the operation and consequently suffered some distress due to the location they found themselves at the time.”
GAF accordingly urged the general public to provide useful information, support the security agencies in weeding out criminals and miscreants from the communities and to desist from shielding and conniving with such suspects in order to curb criminal activities in the country.
By Vincent Kubi