Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Source: GNA

Court remands six persons for possessing firearms

Six persons were on Monday remanded by an Accra Circuit Court for possessing firearms and instruments intended for unlawful entry and narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

The six are Moro Salisu, William Evadzi, Abubakar Sadique, Fatau Mohammed, all masons, Alhassan Issaka, a trader, and Ibrahim Osman, an AMA Security-man.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded by the court to reappear on April 23, 2014.

Police Inspector K. Adu told the court that, for some time now, Amasaman and its environs have been invaded by the activities of land guards, who carried out activities including demolishing people’s buildings, extorting money and assaulting innocent developers.

He said the land guards always used sophisticated weapons, and on April 2, 2014, the Amasaman patrol team received information that the land guards were harassing innocent developers at Aborkope, near Amasaman.

The prosecution said the police team proceeded to the area and arrested the six accused persons. A search conducted on their vehicle revealed one pump action gun, two live ammunitions, dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, cutlasses and knives.

He said in their statement, the accused persons claimed ownership of the pump action gun and the implements and stated that their leader whose name they mentioned as Odinga Joe supplied them with the items.

He said Fatau, the sixth accused person, also claimed ownership of the dried leaves.