Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 20 July 2004

Source: GNA

Man arrested for unlawfully possessing military accoutrements

Tema, July 20, GNA - A corn mill operator who wore military accoutrements he stole from Burma Camp to his village and boasted that he was a soldier has been arrested.

Yaya Kasim, 32, is in custody pending his prosecution for stealing and being in unlawful possession of military accoutrements. Inspector Yaw Nketia-Yeboah, Tema Regional Police Public Relations Officer, told the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday that Kasim visited a soldier friend at Burma Camp, took advantage of his absence and stole his boots, beret and a camouflage uniform.

He went to the Kokomba Market and wore the accoutrements then travelled to his hometown, Dambai in the Volta Region, where he told his relatives that he had been enlisted in the Ghana Army.

On his return to Accra on July 12, the bus he boarded from Dambai developed a fault at the Unipetrol Company near the Tema-Accra motorway roundabout and all the passengers including Kasim alighted for the vehicle to be repaired.

While waiting, Kasim went to watch some white men who were doing gymnastics and a Ghanaian ex-serviceman who was among them became suspicious of his appearance and caused his arrest.