…Over Cocoa beans smuggling incident
The Herald, has picked a report that the Bawku Divisional Commander, has been recommended for immediate withdrawal from Bawku in the Upper East Region, over a Cocoa Smuggling incident which resulted in a clash between some police, customs and military personnel.
The removal of ACP Adamu Seidu, is on the recommendation of both the National Security and the Upper East Regional Security Council, after investigations showed that he lied about the arrest of the Kia Rhino truck with registration number AS551-21, loaded with 20 bags of cocoa beans.
Customs officers on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, prevented some police personnel from aiding smuggling of the cocoa beans into neighbouring Togo, resulting in a clash between the three state security agencies, an assault on one G/Constable Nicholas Opare Junior and damages to a Police vehicle numbered GP3498.
The Regional Security Council (REGSEC) under the chairmanship of the Upper East Regional Minister, Hafiz Bin Salih, went into the matter and found the police to be at fault, hence the recommendation to remove the Bawku Divisional Commander.
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Details on ACP Adamu Seidu is that he is a native of Bawku, and spent most of his police career in the Bawku area, including serving as a Crime Officer as well as a District Commander until his current appointment as the Divisional Commander.
The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), had called for reinforcement from the Ghana Armed Forces after the Police personnel who were caught escorting the cocoa beans out of Ghana to Togo, through Bawku, became rowdy.
Things degenerated between the Customs officers and the Military officers on one hand and the police officers on the other hand.
However, investigations established that the Customs officers, rather had received a tipoff about the smuggling of the cocoa beans to Togo where a bag is sold for GH¢10,000 as opposed to Ghana’s GH¢3,000, a day before and had laid ambush for the smugglers and their police escort.
Based on the information, the Customs officers, allowed the truck to drive through many of its barriers until the final checkpoint where it was arrested.
But out of shame, the police twisted the story that they had rather arrested the truck and that they were taking it into their custody. Attempts by Customs officers to detain the truck led to the clashes and the presence of the soldiers amid the firing of gunshots.
A police statement signed by ACP Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the Director of Police Public Administration, had acknowledged the confusion around the truck carrying smuggled bags of cocoa arrested at the checkpoint noting that tensions had escalated as the three different security agencies had varying interpretations of their roles and actions regarding the consignment.
The Ghana Police Service, claimed that they had intercepted the smuggled consignment based on intelligence and were in the process of escorting the truck to the Bawku Divisional Police Command.
The explanation appeared to have been culled from a situation report by the Bawku Divisional Commander, ACP Adamu Seidu, on October 9, 2024, saying his men at about 10; 00 hours, intercepted a Kia Rhino truck loaded with an unspecified quantity of cocoa beans.
The cocoa beans, he went on to claim, were being smuggled into Togo, and he dispatched men to the scene to escort the said truck to the Bawku Police Station for a search to be conducted on the truck.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ghana Police Service denied claims of facilitating the smuggled cocoa beans intercepted at the Missiga security checkpoint at Bawku.
“We wish to state that the Ghana Police Service yesterday, October 9, 2024, intercepted the smuggled consignment based on intelligence, and were in the process of escorting the truck to the Bawku Divisional Police Command for the consignment to be handed over to COCOBOD and the culprits investigated and prosecuted by the Police in line with established protocol with Ghana COCOBOD,” it said.
“For the record, the Police recently intercepted smuggled cocoa beans on two occasions within the region, and the intercepted consignments were handed over to COCOBOD, while the suspects are currently being prosecuted by the Police. It is, therefore, untrue that the Police were in any way facilitating the smuggled consignments, as being claimed.”
The Bawku police had claimed that soldiers, customs officers and police officers were engaged in a disagreement, leading to the firing of shots over a vehicle suspected to be conveying smuggled cocoa to Togo.
It said while the police officers at the scene, Nakom Corner in the Upper East Region, sought to have the vehicle escorted to Bawku for inspection of its contents, the customs officers reportedly disagreed, adding that soldiers who emerged at the scene joined in the confusion and even shot at the police vehicle, in their bid to thwart the efforts of the police officers.
According to a situation report by the Bawku Divisional Commander, ACP Adamu Seidu, on October 9, 2024 at about 10: 00 hours, police officers intercepted a Kia Rhino truck with registration number AS551-21 based on the information that the said truck was loaded with an unspecified quantity of cocoa beans.
ACP Adamu Seidu insisted that he dispatched men to the scene to escort the said truck to the Bawku Police Station for a search to be conducted on the truck.
As the police escorted the truck and upon reaching a section of the road at Nakom-Corner, a team of customs officers from Polimakom followed and told the law enforcement officers that they were interested in the contents of the truck. The police officers reportedly asked the customs officers to follow up for the search.
At Pusiga, a military pick-up with armed men from Polimakom, followed and blocked the truck with the excuse that they were taking the truck back to Widana, but the police resisted this move and continued.
The military continued obstructing the police until at the customs checkpoint at Missiga where two military trucks and four armoured pick-ups with men blocked the police and started firing sporadically.
The police escort team called for reinforcement, and when it arrived, the military shot at the vehicle and the tyre of the police armoured vehicle, deflating it in the process.
As a result of the intensive firing, the police also fired some warning shots in order to defend the police vehicles from further damage.
The situation was later brought under control and the truck was impounded at the customs checkpoint for a joint-security search to be conducted to ascertain the content of the truck.
The impounded truck at the customs checkpoint at Missiga was searched the same day in the presence of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), Defense intelligence, police and other security agencies.
During a search of the truck, twenty bags of cocoa beans were found concealed in the said truck with other goods. These were recovered and retained at the customs checkpoint at Missiga under the custody of the Missiga Customs Command.
G/Constable Nicholas Opare Junior, who was assaulted by the military at the scene, has been admitted to the Presbyterian Hospital, Bawku for medical treatment.
The police armoured vehicle which the soldiers shot into, had been left with bullet marks on both the body of the vehicle and on two deflated tyres, according to the Divisional Commander.
