Police-Military swoops to deal with rising attacks on personnel — IGP
The Inspector-General of Police, Christian Tetteh Yohuno, has explained that swoops conducted in some parts of the country last Wednesday were aimed at addressing the rising attacks on security personnel.
For instance, he cited the attacks on personnel of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) at Hwidiem and the related attack on a police station in the community, including the forceful release of a suspect at Ehi in the Volta Region.
During an interaction with journalists in Accra last Wednesday, Mr Yohuno said the attacks on police and military could not be tolerated under any circumstances.
“The situation was so tense, and it appears this is the trend now that even the slightest thing, people have to mobilise and attack the police,” he said.
Release of suspect
“Recently, you saw what happened at Ehi in the Volta Region when a suspect was arrested,” Mr Yohuno said.
He said the mob that demanded that the suspect be released ended up releasing him after breaking into the police station.
“We are living in a country where indiscipline is becoming very high; they have become emboldened in such a way that they don’t fear the police and the military.
“They feel that now they can confront us. But if we allow this thing to go on in this country, a time will come when there will be no one to protect any citizen,” the IGP said.
Mr Yohuno said it was for this reason that the joint security personnel had launched a war against such miscreants who always want to break the law.
Hence, the reason for last Wednesday's joint police and military operations in the Ashanti, Ahafo, and Volta regions was that more than 400 people were arrested.
Swoop
The coordinated special dawn operations were carried out at Dadwene, Obuasi and Anwona in the Ashanti Region, Ehi in the Volta Region and Hwediem, Kenyase, Goaso and Maharni in the Ahafo Region.
All the suspects in custody are male.
The heavily armed security personnel cordoned off the entire communities and moved in groups to arrest the suspects in their respective houses under the cover of darkness.
A statement issued by the acting Director-General of Public Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces, Capt. Veronica Adzo Arhin also explained that the operation was aimed at arresting identified persons involved in the recent attacks on members of the NAIMOS team, police officers and a team from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), including journalists.
