Police intensify efforts to arrest Nima, Mamobi, violent ringleaders

The police have intensified efforts to arrest the ring leaders and other collaborators of the clash at Nima and Mamobi last Tuesday.

They have, therefore, urged all chiefs and opinion leaders at Nima and its adjoining communities to partner them to stamp out violence and crime in the area.

The appeal was made during a meeting between the police and all chiefs and opinion leaders at Nima and its adjoining communities following the recent clash between two rival groups at Nima.

The meeting was to get the community leaders to partner the police to curb violence in the area.

Speaking at the meeting at the Kawukudi Park at Nima, the Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Kwesi Ofori, urged the leaders to support the police in their operations to curb violence in the area.

Community engagement

He said the police would also be undertaking community engagements and education, for which it would need the support of all Zongo chiefs and opinion leaders.

“With the support of Zongo chiefs and opinion leaders, we can build a safer community. As for the criminals behind the recent violence, we will pursue them; we will go all out to ensure we arrest them and make them face the law,” ACP Ofori said.

He also appealed to the youth of the area to refrain from violent activities.

Sustain patrols

The Director-General of Police Operations, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Alhaji Mohammed Suraji, said the police would continue to patrol the area and deploy men to the community to ensure continuous police presence.

He urged the chiefs and opinion to alert the police to any suspicious activities or acts that might escalate into gang-fueled shootings.

Applause

The Zongo chiefs and opinion leaders applauded the police for engaging them and for their prompt intervention following the violent clash in the area.

One of the leaders, Mr Issah Wahib, urged the police to carry out more aggressive prosecution of cases involving violence in Zongo communities to reduce violent crimes there.

“The police must take a stronger stance on prosecuting violent crimes. They must take the prosecution of offenders more seriously because gun battles such as happened last Tuesday put innocent people at risk,” he said.

Mr Wahib also praised the police for “coming into the community to assess the situation on the ground and for putting in strategies to curb such crimes”.

Visit to Nima

When the Daily Graphic visited Nima yesterday, there was heavy police presence in the community.

Police riot control vehicles, with Formed Police Unit (FPU) personnel on board, were stationed at vantage points.

Background

Last Tuesday, two rival groups clashed, resulting in the firing of gunshots.

Young men suspected to be members of two rival groups were seen in a viral video wielding guns, machetes and clubs, parading the streets of Nima.

The two gangster groups, the Bombom group, led by Ali Awusi, alias Bombom, and the Kumodzi group, led by Ibrahim Hussa, said to be based at Mamobi and Nima, respectively, had been opposing each other in the past.

The police subsequently arrested nine people in connection with the clash and retrieved a number of weapons.

Two persons who were shot during the incident are still on admission at the Police Hospital, while two of the suspects who were also injured are on admission at the same hospital.

The police have since declared the leaders of the two groups wanted and placed a GH¢20,000 bounty on their heads.