Members of the group at the chief’s palace
Hundreds of people trooped to the Nkotompo beach near Sekondi last Saturday to catch a glimpse of some young men who were held hostage for allegedly performing money rituals at the beach.
The young men numbering about ten, allegedly dropped a coffin wrapped in a sackcloth into the sea in the fishing community as part of their purported rituals.
Some of the youth of Nkotompo who were keenly monitoring the young men when they arrived in the community and saw them dropping the alleged coffin into the sea, raised an alarm which drew scores of people to the scene.
The residents subsequently held the visitors hostage for hours before sending them to the chief’s palace and were later handed over to the police.
According to eyewitnesses, the young men arrived in the community in what they described as ‘expensive vehicles’.
“We were here this morning when these guys driving in expensive vehicles arrived at our beach. They were dressed in white attire and printed T-shirts with some mystical symbols at the back and had yellow robes draped around their necks,” a resident said.
“These young men brought something like a coffin wrapped in a sackcloth from their vehicle and dropped it in the sea. We suspected it was the body of a human being”, the eye witnesses pointed.
Later, the residents insisted that the men should go into the sea and remove the object from it before they would allow them to leave the community.
“We will never allow them to go without removing whatever they dropped in the sea. They claim they are coming from Accra,” the eye witnesses said.
The Assembly member for the area, Frederick Acheampong intervened and tried to calm the angry residents down.
According to him, he later called the traditional leaders in the area who instructed him to bring the visitors to the palace.
At the palace the leader of the group, identified as Lord Ackam, explained that they belonged to a secret society.
“We are a secret group known as the ‘Spiritual Scientists’. One of our members has passed, and as our rituals demand, we have to drop his belongings into the sea,” he clarified.
“What were in the box were symbolic items such as rosaries, candles, and other personal belongings of the deceased”, he indicated.
The young men have since been handed over to the police for further investigations.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi