The wanted illegal small-scale mining kingpin in Axim, Kwame Ato Asare Ani has disclosed in an interview with a local radio station that the guns that the Ghana Police Service seized from his home in a staged raid are not his.

According to him, one of the firearms was bought for him by the Axim divisional police for personal security as a result of his assistance to the police force in stopping illegal mining operations in the community.

Kwame Ani asserted that the Axim police crime officer bought the gun for him so he could protect himself.

The now famous Ani, who spoke to the media from his hideout disputed all allegations levelled against him of being an armed robber and maintained that until the police tell the public the truth, he is not prepared to surrender for questioning.

Speaking in an interview on Peace FM’s Afternoon News on April 03, 2023, he lamented: “For the police, they are my friends that I work with them, the work that we do is that, all the galamsey sites, whenever they come there, they will come and see me before I take them around.

“I also have a site that I manage, so whenever the police come around, they call me to meet them.

“The gun that I have, I wasn’t the one who bought it, it was the Axim crime officer who bought it and registered it for me because, for them, they are afraid of the ‘macho’ men in the bush, so whenever they want to go there, then they will call me to come and escort them there. So, he bought the gun for me to protect myself whenever I will go to the site. So, I work with them (the police),” he said.

He added, “what I want to tell the IGP is that if I will turn myself in to the police, all the allegations that the police have made against me that I’m an armed robber and having all the guns that they seized, if they are able to tell me the truth, I will come to Accra and turn myself in to the police.”

GhanaWeb on Sunday, April 2, 2023, reported about a viral video in which a supposed leader of the gang is seen accosting a police officer and accusing the officer of attempting to arrest him after he had given him money.

Subsequently, the Ghana Police Service later on Sunday released a statement which said it arrested some four men on March 28 after the Axim Divisional Police Patrol Team reported an attack on them by a gang.

According to the police, it also conducted a search at the residence of Kwame Asare where some weapons and other items were retrieved.

The statement added that the police became aware of the video showing the confrontation between some police officers and the arrested gang in which the police were pleading with the gang members over an extortion allegation.

According to the statement, the allegation of extortion has since been referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) for investigation.

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