… Group Charges
A group calling itself Community Rights for Development (CRD), is calling for the immediate arrest of a certain Daniel Nii Arde Tagoe whom they allege to be the chief recruiting officer and bankroller of the notorious the landguards who were arrested last week within the Kokrobite enclave.
A statement signed by the Convener of the pressure group, Tetteh Neequaye Nixon, said, they wish to appeal to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Greater Accra Regional Commander to search and arrest Nii Arde Tagoe whom they alleged to be the bulwark behind the landguards and ‘gangsterism’ in the community.
Mr. Nixon stated that “As responsible citizens, we do support the new bill passed recently by the law makers against vigilantism/landguards to deal with any suspected persons without fear or favor”.
He said, “Notably, our concerns as citizens in the beach town of GA-South want a peaceful and habitable Kokrobite and its surroundings. Economically, the beach town (Kokrobite) used to be one of the highest tourism destinations in time past but because of these notorious criminals parading as languards now tourists don’t patronize the beaches.”
“We therefore urge the IGP to move in swiftly and help out, and we are always ready to assist the police because we know these hoodlums, they live with us so if the police want to do their work we are always ready to cooperate with them,” he added.
The names of the suspects who were arrested included Cephas Ahiago, 25, Benjamin Botchway Barnes, 24, Moses Quarshie, 23, Joshua Oboosu, 22, Arnold Amuzu, 24, Stantley Tagoe Sariki, 42, Noah Ashaley, 31, Ibrahim Tetteh and Simon Borketey. They have all been remanded to reappear before court on Tuesday 17th September 2019.
Recall that last week a special police operations led to the arrest of nine landguards said to be members of two opposing groups from Kokrobite and Tuba, all suburbs of Accra.
General speculation is that misunderstanding between the two groups which degenerated into the exchange of gun shots attracted police attention leading to the arrest of the suspects.
