The Accra Regional Police Command has apprehended 41 persons they suspect to be criminals in a major swoop conducted last Saturday.
The operation, according to the police, is part of their strategy to rid the region of criminal activities towards the Christmas celebrations.
The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Effia Tenge, said the commands that conducted the swoop included the Airport, Amasaman and Railways police.
She said Airport Police arrested 25 suspected criminals hiding in an abandoned building around Shangrilla area.
“Thirty-seven years old Innocent Ogbonzor, believed to be the leader of the group and having in his procession a wrap of Indian hemp, was also apprehended,” she said.
Names of the suspects she gave included Sheriff Abdallah, 26; Stephen Attey, 41; Abdul Rahman, 22; Eric Gyasi, 23; Andrew Odotei, 24; Mohammed Issah, 35; Lukeman Ajebalah, 35; Yakuba Christopher Bangura, 27; Richmond Akiku, 16; Evelyn Mohammed, 20; and Favor Lukeman, 21.
She said at Railways, the police conducted the swoop around Kantamanto and its environs, and also around the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Railway Line where 25 suspects including seven females were arrested.
The suspects she mentioned included Candra Bella Holdbrook, 21; Priscilla Boateng, 19; Tina Mensah, 21; Patience Peprah, 29; Isha Manuf, 28; Elizabeth Amoah, 20; Kofi Fosu, 27; Gilbert Teteh, 28; Etse Amanya, 48; Edward Nkrumah, 27; Yaw Frimpong, 30; Joseph Lamptey, 25; James Nii Bentum, 25; Daniel Tetteh, 33; Christian Midodzi, 20; Amama Alhasan, 26; and Eric Danso, 27.
The rest are Amudu Musah, 27; Frank Arthur, 44; Kwame Banor, 29; Anthony Botwe, 16; Ali Amidu, 30; Solomon Arhin, 20; Collins Acheampong, 26; Dennis Oppong, 29; and Nawal Idi, 32.
At Amasaman, the operation, she said, took place at Nsakina Cemetery area, where suspect Emmanuel Commey, aged 23, was arrested but his accomplices bolted before the team arrived at the scene.
“A search conducted among some parked cement blocks revealed 164 wraps of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis and seven packs of Rothmans king-size cigarettes,” she said.
DSP Tenge maintained that at Obeyeyie the police went to a ghetto where suspect Lanquaye Mills was arrested and when a search was conducted in a kiosk, owned by suspect Rukiya Wahab, aged 35, who sells alcoholic beverages, 75 pieces of (razler) a kind of paper used in wrapping cannabis, were retrieved.
She said all the suspects would be sent to court for prosecution after their investigations were over.