The Circuit Court in Accra presided over by Her Honour Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah, has remanded into police custody one Mohammed Buzu, who has been absent from court for two years for possessing firearms and ammunition without lawful authority.

Buzu, a trader, was arrested in November 2017 and granted bail after he was first arraigned.

He was then granted bail, and asked to report to the case investigator once a week as part of the bail conditions.

But after showing commitment to that condition for some time, he earned the trust of the investigator for which the policeman granted him a two-week permission to visit his uncle at Sogakope in the Volta Region

However, the accused person vanished into thin air for two years until he was re-arrested.

In court when the case was called, Chief Inspector Gulliver Tenkorang told the court that the accused person “vanished into thin air when he was granted bail two years ago.”

Asked by the court how long that permission granted him was to last, the accused person said three weeks, but ended up spending two years.

Her Honour Mrs Appiah, prior to adjourning the case for the prosecution to file its disclosures, said the accused person’s reason “doesn’t explain his non-appearance in court and court is therefore not inclined to grant him bail, considering his long absence.”

The prosecution has been given two weeks to file all disclosures while the case is adjourned to June 1, 2020.

Brief facts

The brief facts of the case presented to the court by Chief Inspector Tenkorang were that the complainants are police officers stationed at the National SWAT Headquarters at the Police Headquarters, Accra.

“The accused person Mohammed Buzu”, he said, “is a trader, residing at Sogakope in the Volta region.”

According to the prosecutor, on Nov 22, 2017, at about 2:36a.m., whilst the complainants were on night patrol duties at East Legon, precisely on the Addis Ababa Avenue, they intercepted a Daewoo taxi with registration number No. GT 5177-14 being driven by Leonard Dogbey with the accused person and one Prosper Ahovi on board.

He told the court that the complainant asked the accused person and Ahovi to alight from the car to be searched.

He added that, “as they were being searched, the accused person dropped one foreign-made pistol loaded with one 9mm ammunition, one Samsung Galaxy 8 Plus and a blue Nokia mobile phone and bolted.”

Chief Insp. Tenkorang said the suspect driver Dogbey and Ahovi were arrested and taken to East Legon Police Station and granted bail pending further investigation.

“On March 13, 2018, upon intelligence, the accused person was arrested at Sogakope and handed over to the Accra Regional Police Command for investigation.

“In his caution statement, he admitted the offence and stated that he bought the weapon from one Wisdom, but could not lead the police to arrest him.

“According to him, the said Wisdom sold the weapon to him at East Legon for GHc1,300, and he paid GHc700 to him, leaving the balance of GHc600.”

He was subsequently charged with the offence after investigation and put be for the court.