BUSTED! Eric Kojo Duah
‘Sir, mission accomplished!’ was what Supt./Mr. Abass Al-Meyao was said to have told the Inspector General of Police (IGP) as soon as he pulled out the suspected killer of Sgt. Michael Dzamesi from the Golf car on which he was travelling, with an embedded informant, on the Senchi Bridge on Saturday morning.
Abass, as he is fondly called by his colleagues, according to a source at the Police Headquarters, voluntarily opted to carry out the mission using an informant.
“When he took the face-plastered Eric Duah, the suspected killer, to the Akosombo Police Station after arresting him, he admitted to the murder which he said he did out of revenge for the death of his mother because he was convinced that the deceased was responsible for it,” the Police Headquarters source told DAILY GUIDE.
The suspected killer, he said, claimed the deceased threatened his mother, the owner of a church in Accra, and within a month the woman passed on. That, he claimed, was what pushed him to plan to kill the cop.
Key Decision
Abass is a cop with 28 years experience in policing and currently heads the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF), one of the operational units of the Ghana Police Service (GPS).
He hardly goes on operations with his rank on his epaulettes, and so even in the picture on social media showing him as a slim dark complexioned man on the right hand side of the suspect, he posted the image of a constable, his rank of Superintendent absent.
“He is said to have been touched by the murder of the two police officers whom he did not know. He, therefore, told his superiors that he would want to embark on a mission to arrest the principal suspect,” the source said.
With clearance given, he was said to have assembled his team carefully because such missions required secrecy and commitment.
Informant’s Help
The whole mission, he cited, besides receiving the blessing of God, depended on the unflinching support of an informant who was part of the mission until the critical part of driving the Golf car in which the suspect was finally nabbed.
The informant, the source disclosed, was a bit hesitant at first but eventually bought into the operation and cooperated fully until the end of the mission, adding that the he too was touched by the manner in which the two cops were killed.
“Abass reportedly assured the informant of protection in the mission which he told him has both national and international importance,” the source said.
“The informant gave reliable information from day one until the final day on the Senchi Bridge for which I am grateful to him,” DAILY GUIDE was told.
All did not progress smoothly at the initial stage, the source revealed, pointing out that “at a point, he thought he was going to fail especially since some of the things the informant told him were not turning out well and it was all because Duah was very smart and sometimes changed his route.”
Adenta & Oyibi
He received the coordinates of the Adenta and Oyibi general area from the National Security apparatus because this was the place where Eric was said to be taking cover prior to his final dash towards the Volta Region, details of which the informant had relayed to Supt. Abass, DAILY GUIDE gathered.
“It was a three-day operation starting on Thursday and ending on Saturday morning and Abass engaged the support of some cops at the barriers on the route Eric was going to take towards the Volta Region,” the source said, pointing out that “when he left the house on Thursday he did not return until Saturday after he had accomplished the mission with Sgt Osman Ali.”
“The cooperation from some of his colleagues was not encouraging but he persevered his only supporters, being a few cops,” the source narrated, adding that “at the final point he was with Sgt. Osman Ali who stuck with him throughout.”
Final Moments
With things now falling into place, Supt. Abass said he moved to the bridge, having asked some cops to cover the road.
He told the source that when he reached the destination where he planned to stop the Golf car whose details he had received already from the informant who was driving the car, he spotted a Ghana Prisons Service vehicle PS 1 and a private saloon car in which was sitting a military officer, adding “the Prisons Service vehicle had a flag hoisted and the occupant in it. He did not mind him at all because he had a mission to accomplish.”
“At that point, he stopped all vehicular movements when the Golf reached where he was. He had arranged with the informant who told him that the suspect had a plastered face and had him sit at the rear of the car on the driver’s side.
“As soon as he spotted the car, he opened the door because after all he knew where the suspect sat having arranged that with the informant. He pulled him out quickly and put him on the ground. Eric did not resist. He was calm with the telltale plaster on his face,” the source told narrated.
Pure Excitement
The excitement over the accomplishment of the mission whose outcome Abass could not vouch for when he embarked upon it could only be imagined.
Akosombo Police Station
“He took him with the Sergeant Osman Ali supporting alongside some police officers from the Akosombo District Police Station to the Akosombo Police Station and was overheard calling the IGP to announce ‘Mission Accomplished!”.
It was here that the suspect admitted to killing Sgt. Dzamesi because he threatened his mother, who owns a church and within a month she died.
Akosombo To Accra
With the mission accomplished, the source said the Police Headquarters sent escorts to come and support in moving the suspect to Accra. Currently, the suspect, DAILY GUIDE has learnt, is being held at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
No Weapons
The fleeing Eric Duah, our reliable source disclosed, was unarmed at the time of his arrest, something which is rather amazing considering the fact that he was on the run and could need a firearm to put up a firefight.
Some junior and senior officers who spoke to DAILY GUIDE expressed the hope that the informant would receive the bounty placed on the head of Eric Duah because of the invaluable role he played in the nabbing of the suspect who could have escaped.
No shots were fired during the entire operation.
Chief Architect
Our source said, “Supt. Abass was the architect of the operation. The source observed that there is a lot of lawlessness in the Kasoa area. Many of the players have licensed guns and it is worrying that some unqualified persons manage to have these firearms duly registered.
Eric Duah’s killer weapon was said to have been a registered one, details which came out at the time of the incident at Budumburam, Kasoa last Wednesday.
By A.R. Gomda