Pallbearers carrying the remains of the late G/C Emmanuel Osei (inset)
The mortal remains of Constable Emmanuel Osei, the policeman shot by armed robbers during an attack on a bullion van at Adedenkpo near James Town in Accra last month, has been laid to rest.
The burial service took place at Nyanyano Kakraba School Park near Kasoa in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region.
Officials like the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, senior police officers including the Director General in charge of Welfare, COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Danquah, Central Regional Police Commander DCOP Habiba Twumasi Sarpong, and the Commander in charge of SWAT, Chief Superintendent Theodore Hlormenu among others, graced the solemn occasion.
DCOP Reverend Father George Arthur, the Head of Police Religious Affairs, who officiated the burial service, described the Constable’s death as a painful exit.
He said security officers are always at risk in the course of discharging their duties and said they have been putting their lives on the line to ensure there is always peace in the country.
He said there is the need for the government to continue to provide better incentives for law enforcement agents so that the risks involved in providing security will not be in vain.
Rev. Fr. Arthur consoled the family, saying “as Christians we believe that God is always right. Just us we entered this world at different times, so we shall leave this world in different circumstances and at different times and places. God gives each one his or her purpose in life and Constable Osei has finished his earthly race and may the merciful Jesus remember him all the time.”
Mr. Ambrose Dery, in an address, announced that the late Constable Osei, has been given a posthumous promotion of a Lance Corporal.
According to Mr. Dery, Constable Osei died a hero and will forever be remembered as such.
“Emmanuel Osei, died a patriot. He died a professional, with high standards in the Ghana Police Service. He is a hero, he joins a long list of heroes and heroines who have died in the Police Service and we will continue to remember him,” he said.
On Monday, June 14, close to midday, some hoodlums armed with deadly weapons on motorbikes pounced on a bullion van and killed the young policeman and another woman who was standing close to the scene before ransacking the vehicle and escaping on the bikes.
The incident stunned the whole country and reignited the debate on improved security to stem the armed robbery menace.
A Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage revealed more about the deadly incident on Monday, June 14, as footages on the streets showed how the hoodlums appeared to tail the bullion van, belonging to MON-TRAN.
Six Robbers
The footages showed that six robbers using three motorbikes (two on each bike) followed the vehicle for some time before launching the attack at Adedenkpo, near Jamestown.
At 11:52 am, they were captured around the Bishop Bowers Junction at Laterbiokoshie, on the Mortuary Road, the same route the bullion van was using.
They tailed the bullion van and occasionally appeared to use other vehicles as decoy.
After about 12 noon, the van turned left at the Korle Bu Junction Traffic Light intersection across the Korle Lagoon Bridge towards Jamestown.
At a traffic stop at Adedenkpo, the bullion van stopped, and the lead motorcycle bypassed the van.
Daring Move
The two other bikes followed, and within a minute, sandwiched the bullion van at a crowded spot and started firing their weapons.
They then succeeded in killing Police Constable Emmanuel Osei, together with a trader, Afua Badu, who was selling nearby.
The bullion van driver sustained injuries while two ladies at the back of the van managed to escape unhurt.
The robbers then emptied the bullion van and escaped on their bikes amid indiscriminate firing to scare onlookers.
The footages also showed people in the vicinity running helter-skelter.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey