Cantonments police arrest 18 sex workers

The Cantonments Divisional Police Command in Accra has arrested 18 suspected commercial sex workers in a swoop.

A man who was allegedly patronising the services of one of the sex workers was also arrested by the police. Those arrested were between the ages of 19 and 38.

Some of them are said to have been arrested a number of times.

The unannounced operation was carried out last Saturday night and on Sunday morning around the Togolese Embassy, the Italian Embassy and the Danquah Circle where undercover policemen stormed the areas known to be ‘marketplaces’ for the suspected commercial sex workers.

Complaints

Briefing the Daily Graphic after the operation, the acting Cantonments Divisional Police Commander, Superintendent of Police Ms Gladys Mpere, said the operation was in response to complaints from residents.

She said the police had also gathered intelligence on the illegal operations of the suspected commercial workers.

Ms Mpere said the residents complained of the nuisance caused by the suspected commercial sex workers who solicited for sex in the area.

According to her, the suspects, who indulged in commercial sex activities, were also involved in other activities such as snatching of mobile phones and threatening people.

Crimes

Ms Mpere said crimes such as vehicle break-ins and the stealing of valuables from them, as well as robbery attacks on people in their cars on the streets in the night, were becoming common in the areas where the commercial workers operated.

She said it was also known that some of the sex workers sometimes made arrangements with robbers to rob the clients of the sex workers in their homes by providing the details of their clients.

She assured residents of the said areas that the exercise would be sustained to rid the communities of the activities of commercial sex workers and robbers.

Meanwhile, Ms Mpere cautioned vehicle owners not to leave valuable items in their parked vehicles, adding that the police had intensified patrols to curb incidents of crime in the aforementioned areas.