The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is defending it barbaric action in Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region on Tuesday March 7, 2023 which has left several residents with injuries as a result of severe beatings they received from the soldiers.
According to GAF, it invasion of Ashaiman which was sanctioned by the Military High Command, was not to avenge the killing of a soldier but rather to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
GAF said the aimed of the invasion was
a man-hunt for some criminals, who are suspected to have stabbed and killed the young soldier, Trooper Imoro Sherrif in the early hours of Saturday 4th March, 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, 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 and have since been handed 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.
“We wishes 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,” according to GAF.
GAF accordingly is urging the general public to provide useful information to 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 the curb criminal activities in the country.
By Vincent Kubi