From Baffour Opoku, Assin Fosu

THREE people, including two women, were on Wednesday night arrested by the police here for attempting to sell human parts to a police officer at ?35 million. Moments before the deal could be concluded with the policeman who posed as a buyer, a team of policemen swooped in and arrested the three with the human skull and bones wrapped in a fertilizer sack. They were named as Kofi Abew, 53, popularly called Nana, Gladys Donkor, 40, and Cecilia Korankyi, 45, all traders from Assin Akyease in the Central Region. The three were on Thursday put before the Assin Fosu Community Tribunal on a provisional charge of possessing human parts without authority and offering them for sale. Abew is facing an additional charge of possessing fire arms without authority. The tribunal remanded them in prison custody until March 3. Their plea was not taken.

When news spread about the arrest of the group, a large crowd gathered in front of the Assin Fosu police station to catch a glimpse of them. The police had a hectic time controlling the crowd, until the accused were whisked away to prison custody on Thursday afternoon. According to a police source, they had information that the accused, lodging at the hotel, were looking for a buyer for human parts. A police officer was made to disguise himself as someone from Accra who wanted to buy the human parts. He met the accused in their hotel room and they agreed on a price of ?35 million. That was at 8 pm on Wednesday. After the price was fixed, the accused brought out the fertilizer sack and while the transaction continued, the police stormed the hotel to arrest the three people.During a search of Abew's room, the police found a locally manufactured pistol with two life ammunitions.