Ministry Investigates Cops
The Ministry of the Interior has initiated fresh steps to probe another allegation of stolen hard drugs made against top members of the Ghana Police Service by one Detective Sergeant Peter Kweku Annobil.
Sergeant Annobil attracted public attention last week when he launched media attack on some of his superiors, accusing them of stealing three kilogramme's of cocaine, a mini sack of Indian Hemp “and other assorted quantities” of the two narcotic drugs, which, he said, were being kept as exhibits at La Police Station.
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Following those public statements, the police administration announced a disciplinary action against Sergeant Annobil and hit back with its own charges of embezzlement, impersonation and extortion.
In its counter-charges as contained in a statement from its Public Affairs Directorate, the police administration said Sergeant Annobil was demoted from the rank of Inspector last year for embezzling ¢35.5 million he was keeping as an exhibit.
The Directorate subsequently said that Sergeant Annobil described himself as an inspector and collected ¢3 million from a complainant.
Following an unfavourable public reaction to the police statement, its Public Affairs Directorate issued another release over the weekend announcing that Sergeant Annobil’s petition had “been sent to the Minister of Interior who had initiated steps to investigate the issues raised”.
It said that “the police administration has taken note of the concerns of the statement issued on Thursday July 27, 2006, regarding media interviews granted by Sergeant Peter Kweku Annobil”, and gave the assurance that it would not interfere with the investigations the Minister of the Interior was conducting.
The release said “some members of the public expressed fears that the sergeant’s petition against some senior police officers might not be given the necessary attention because of the intended disciplinary action against him”.
The release said the concern of the police administration was mainly on procedural matters regarding granting of interviews to the media as stipulated in the general orders on communication in the service, adding that, “The Sergeant granted interviews to the media without recourse to the said police regulations.”
The police top hierarchy is the subject of another drug-related investigation into the alleged stealing of large volumes of narcotic exhibits and an allegation of bribery, involving $200,000 of cocaine money.