Police arrest 156 suspected criminals in dawn raid at Madina

One hundred and fifty-six suspected criminals have been rounded up by the Accra Regional Police following a dawn raid they carried out at hideouts of criminals at Madina in Accra on Monday.

The suspects are made up of 111 men and 45 women. They include 10 Nigerians and a Liberian.

The alleged criminals, whose ages range between 18 and 51, are currently being screened at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters.

Items retrieved from their various hideouts included three motorbikes and substances suspected to be Indian hemp.

Criminal activities

Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra on Monday, the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mrs Afia Tenge, said some of the suspects had been connected to some criminal activities within Madina, Adentan and their surrounding areas.

She named the activities as bag snatching, pickpocketing and phone snatching.

Mrs Tenge said some of them were also engaged in prostitution, adding that the police team caught a number of them in the act.

Attacks

Over the past few months, ASP Mrs Tenge said, the police had received numerous reports from residents about criminal activities at Madina, Adentan and surrounding areas.

“The suspected criminals had turned the area into a crime zone and decided to terrorise the people,” she added.

Consequently, the Regional Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Alex Mensah, sanctioned a swoop in the area and that led to the arrest of the 156 suspects, she explained.

ASP Mrs Tenge said the raid was carried out by a team from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Counter Terrorism and the Operation Unit of the Regional Police Command.

It was led by the Regional Operations Commander, Chief Superintendent Kwesi Ofori.

Asked what the police intended to do next, ASP Mrs Tenge said after the screening, those found to have committed the criminal acts would be made to face the law.

She called on residents who had been victims of robbery attacks in those areas to call at the Regional Police Headquarters and identify their attackers to help the police in their investigations.