Foul: 7 cops struggle to explain kidnapper’s ‘aided’ escape
Seven policemen under whose watch the shady escape of a suspected kidnapper occurred at the Takoradi Metropolitan Police Command, are struggling to explain how it all happened.
The seven, whose names are being withheld in the meantime, have been slapped with the police’s standard 10-day ultimatum to recover the escaping suspect or face the consequences - internal criminal procedures.
Highly placed sources within the Command have told Graphic Online that the officers have no excuse not to produce the suspect, a Nigerian named Samuel Udoetuk-Wills, said to be notorious for the kidnapping of young girls.
Udoetuk-Wills had been arrested at about 2am on December 22 at Kanssawurodu, a suburb of Sekondi/Takoradi on suspicion of being behind the kidnapping of a number of teenage girls and placed in police custody by a circuit court on December 24, 2018. He was to return to court on January 9, 2019 to answer charges relating to kidnapping and to explain the whereabouts of three young girls he is suspected to have kidnapped.
He however ‘escaped’ on December 30, apparently with the aid of his guardians.
‘Highly suspicious’ escape
According to the police sources, on the day of his mysterious escape, Udoetuk-Wills was in custody along with other suspects.
For no apparent reason however, a “senior officer” commonly called “Invisible Commander” ordered the transfer of all the inmates to the Takoradi Central Market Police Post, except Udoetuk-Wills.
Now alone in the cells, Udoetuk-Wills is said to have managed to saw off four of the burglarproof metal bars of three centimetres each in diameter that secured the ventilation at the lintel, with the aid of a standard saw.
While none of the officers on duty heard the sawing of the burglarproof, none also saw the suspect escaping. His vanishing was discovered between the hours of 4:00p.m. and 5:00p.m, leaving investigations into the whereabouts of the three young girls, said to be teenagers, in the balance.
There is an uneasy calm at the Metropolitan Command owing to the incident, while residents familiar with the development are calling it a dent not only on the station but on the Police Service itself, and are demanding immediate answers.
When contacted, the Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olivia Adiku confirmed the escape and the ultimatum handed the seven policemen-turned-suspects.
She said police investigations were ongoing and expressed the hope that the escaping suspect would be recaptured.