Friday, March 6, 2009 (Page 29 Lead)
THE bail granted to three police officers who are alleged to have robbed a businessman at a hotel in Accra has been revoked.
The three, who were each granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 with two sureties, have been re-arrested on the orders of the acting Inspector-General of Police and arraigned before another circuit court charged with conspiracy and robbery.
DSP Patrick Kwapong of the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), Chief Inspector Thomas Adu and Sergeant John Agyapong had earlier been charged with conspiracy, unlawful entry and stealing but the charges have been substituted with conspiracy and robbery.
Their pleas were not taken and they were remanded to appear again on March 12, 2009.
The court, presided over by Mr Mahamadu Iddrisu, had, on February 26, 2009, remanded six others connected with the case and they were also expected to appear again on March 12, 2009.
The six are Lawrence Dennis Quansah, Constable Benjamin Blejumah, Hans Amanor, Peter Amanor, Kwasi Tawiah and Bismark Ampofo.
Meanwhile, Lance Corporal Karimu Muntari and another only known as Jeffrey, alias K, together with two unidentified others, are on the run.
The accused persons were alleged to have robbed Mr Kwaku Duah, who lives in Europe, at a hotel in Accra and took away $53,000, €1,000, GH¢2,000, a black bag containing two compact disc Walkman players, a set of keys, a digital camera, a Standard Chartered Bank cheque book, all valued at $4,000.
At the court’s sitting in Accra last Tuesday, the judge enquired from the prosecution why the three were not attached to the six who are already on remand.
The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr George Abavelim, explained that the case had now been assigned to him.
He, therefore, prayed the court to remand the accused persons while investigations continued.
Counsel for the accused persons had prayed the court to grant them bail but the court declined and remanded them in custody.
According to the facts of the case, on February 2, 2009, Chief Inspector Adu allegedly led the team of policemen to the hotel at Dzorwulu and robbed Mr Duah of the items and the cash.
In addition, Chief Inspector Adu and his men allegedly assaulted Mr Duah, whom they had framed up with narcotic charges.
Mr Duah, who, for the past 20 years, had been living outside the country, returned to Ghana to purchase gold and, having stayed away for that long, he contacted a friend, one Amanor, who is based in Tema, to find somebody who could help him get the gold.
In the evening of Mr Duah’s arrival, Amanor took him to a house in Tema to meet the man who was supposed to be in possession of gold, but the man never showed up, after waiting for him for hours.
They, therefore, decided to have him come to Duah’s hotel the following day with the mineral for the transaction to take place.
As agreed, on the following day, February 2, Amanor showed up at the hotel around 10 a.m. with two other persons with a box containing the supposed gold.
Just before the transaction could start, Amanor asked to be excused to go into his car which was parked at the hotel car park to fetch a chemical to confirm the substance as gold.
No sooner had Amanor left the hotel room than Mr Duah received a telephone call from the hotel's reception that some heavily armed policemen were looking for him.
Mr Duah, according to the source, tried to open the door but realised that it had been locked from outside and the key taken away.
Suddenly, one of the two men, later identified as Kwame Attah, alias K, who was supposed to be holding the bag of gold, drew a pistol and threatened to kill Mr Duah if he did not surrender all the money on him.
At that point, Mr Duah was said to have hit the hand of the gunman and the weapon dropped. He managed to escape through the window of his hotel room, only to be pounced upon outside by six policemen, all wielding guns.
Chief Inspector Adu was said to have given the victim a slap, after which he ordered his boys who had no name tags or police numbers on their uniforms to drag him into a waiting Mercedes Benz car.
The other vehicles were a red Toyota Corolla, with registration number GS 2119 Z, and a red Dodge Durango pick-up, with temporary registration number DV 4951 and which was driven by Kwame Attah.
According to the report, before they violently dragged Mr Duah into the car, the accused persons and their accomplices conducted a body search on him and took away the cash and items on him.
The policemen also ransacked his hotel room, taking away the other items.
According to security sources, instead of taking Mr Duah to the police station, Chief Inspector Adu drove the victim to a drinking spot at the Tesano Police Depot in Accra.
From there, the victim, who was said to be bleeding profusely from the assault, was taken to DSP Kwapong at the Police Depot, who directed Kwame Attah to place three wrapped materials on the victim’s laps and take a photograph of him.
The police, in addition, allegedly demanded $30,000 from the victim or have his photograph published in the media for dealing in cocaine.
When he pleaded that he did not have the money, Mr Duah was later driven by the police to Tema and dumped at a spot from where Amanor picked him up back to his hotel and a report lodged the following day at the Central Police Station, Accra.
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