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| Cocaine policeman absconds in transit |
4/12/2007 |
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The Ghana Police Service has been hit by another cocaine scandal that has very complex links, suggesting possible underhand dealings by some officers at the Greater Accra Regional Command of the security institution,according to The Chronicle.
The story started unfolding when one officer of Monitors Unit (created by ACP Kofi Boakye, the Director General of Police Operation who was interdicted last year on drug related issues) at the Regional Police Command, Lance Corporal Russell Ekow was arrested on a drug related matter about a fortnight ago by men from the Criminal Investigations Department at the national headquarters of the Service.
The Chronicle''s follow up-investigations into the matter after a publication on the arrest of a police officer last week has since revealed that there is more to the issue than just the issue of police arresting police over cocaine.
This paper can reveal that originally Ekow and other officers from the Monitors Unit arrested one Richard Ackon Mensah, the actual suspected drug dealer who was carrying parcels of the narcotic substance and upon arrival at the command base, the suspected drug dealer was sent to the La Police Station to be detained by the police there pending further investigations and subsequent trial in court.
The Chronicle learnt that when Ekow and his group from the Monitor Unit returned to the regional command station, they tendered in only a parcel of cocaine as what was retrieved from the suspected dealer who had been detained at the La Police Station.
In the statement of the suspect, however, he is said to have revealed that the actual quantity he was carrying at the time he was arrested was presented by the police. The suspect then went on to threaten that if the police were bent on prosecuting him in court, then he would expose all those who had benefited from the booty, including some senior officers and those who arrested him.
The threat is said to have sent shivers down the spines of some top officials who had apparently become some thousands of dollars richer on the issue and the next option was to strategize on how to avoid being exposed by the suspect.
Days after the revelation and threat by the suspected drug dealer, the same Ekow was under what sources described as a ''suspicious move'' detailed by the Regional Command to go and bring the suspect from the La Police Station to the Regional Headquarters.
As if to confirm the suspicions of some officers, Ekow went to the La Police Station, got the suspect released to him but returned to the regional headquarters without the suspect.
His explanation, according to Regional Police Commander, DCOP Douglas Akrofi Asiedu was that Ackon managed to abscond on their way to the regional headquarters.
He however said he was not aware of issues related to cocaine but said what he was aware of was that Ekow had been given a 10-day ultimatum to produce the suspect. "So what I know is about prisoner escape for which he was to face service enquiry," he added.
The DCOP said he heard the CID headquarters had arrested Ekow on a drug related matter but that was not under his domain.
Source: The Chronicle
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