Police arrest 109 in swoops at hideouts

More than 100 suspected criminals have been arrested in swoops in some parts of Accra.

The special one-week operation, dubbed "no space for criminals", is aimed at clamping down on the activities of criminals.

It was carried out in places considered to be dens, ghettos and streets of criminals, the police said.

It was undertaken by the district police commands in Adenta, Nungua, Nima, Pokuase, La, Osu, Kpeshie, James Town, East Legon, Adabraka, and Weija, and led by the Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Aful Boakye Yiadom.

Breakdown

The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Affia Tenge, told the Daily Graphic that a number of items suspected to be narcotics, along with motorbikes suspected to have been used for criminal activities, were seized during the operations.

At Adenta, 10 men were arrested on March 3, 2021, and the police retrieved tramadol tablets, substances suspected to be narcotics, among others, from them, while on March 4, 2021, the Kpeshie Divisional Police Command at Nungua arrested 10 suspects at Nungua and Teshie for  possessing dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp.

In the neighbourhood of Nima and Adabraka, the police arrested 14 suspects on March 6, 2021, and impounded 10 unregistered motorbikes, while nine were arrested at Pokuase for peddling drugs around the Pokuase Market, Pokuase-Abensu, Ayawaso and Ayera Faase, with two gallons of local alcoholic beverages laced with narcotic substances also retrieved from some of the suspects.

On the same day, nine male suspects were arrested at La for allegedly engaging in drug peddling and other forms of crime, while nine suspects were arrested at Weija, 10 were rounded up at Osu, 19 at James Town, and nine at East Legon.

DSP Tenge said the exercise would continue to ensure criminals did not have room to operate in the jurisdiction of the Accra Regional Police Command.