Akrofrom (B/A), July 24, GNA - A six-member task force to help combat illegal gambling and smoking of Indian hemp have been set up at Akrofrom in the Techiman municipality. The composition of the task force is made up of four men and two women expected to coordinate together with the security services in the municipality.

Inaugurating it, Nana Ameyaw Yeboah II, chief of Akrofrom tasked the members to arrest any child found engaged in gambling and other anti-social vices in the community and send him or her first to the traditional palace before handing such a person over to the law enforcement agencies.

Nana Yeboah lamented that instead of the youth engaging themselves in income-generating activities, they had resorted to immoral behaviours, such as smoking Indian hemp (wee), stealing and gambling, with the latter activity, which is more associated with unnecessary fighting amongst the operators.

He assured the task force of the fullest support of the traditional council and urged them to perform their duties without fear or favour. The chief cautioned parents of would-be arrested culprits not to approach either the traditional council or the police for any intervention whatsoever, since such approaches would not be countenanced.

Chief Inspector Asare Bruce in-charge of Akrofrom Police Station, who is also the chairman of the Committee, deplored the rampant delinquent behaviour of the youth, especially those of school-going age, who engage in gambling at the expense of their education. He blamed parents, who did not even bother to know where their children slept in the night, the result of which had often been many teenage-girls becoming pregnant, while the boys denied the responsibility of such pregnancies.

Chief Inspector Bruce asked farmers and the general public in the area to be watchdogs and assist the committee to clamp down on such perpetrators, and assured the chiefs and the community that the committee would do everything possible to erase anti-social acts from the Akrofrom and its surrounding communities. 24 July, 05