Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 6 June 2006

Source: dominic jale, dojale@yahoo.co.uk (the sun)

Policeman busted with Drugs

IT MAY sound like a tale but that is the reality. Last Sunday, May 28, marked one of the darkest moment in the history of the Ghana Police Service when a police Constable Atta Bonsu, of Cantonments police station was busted peddling in drugs.

It all happened at Odawna near Kwame Nkrumah Circle when in the full glare of civilians, a policeman in a uniform was spotted around the area carelessly smoking substance believed to be Indian hem 'wee'.

Stunned by the development, some civilians who could not come to terms with what was happening decided to arrest the policeman to ascertain if indeed he was a genuine security officer.

The Sun gathered that when the policeman realised that he had been ambushed by the civilians he attempted to outwit the people but luck eluded him.

After his arrest, he was handed over to the Adabraka Police with the stuff. Surprisingly when he was searched at the station, apart from what he was smoking another substance believed to be cocaine was retrieved from his pocket, an insider told The Sun.

During the interrogation Bonsu, traced his root to Cantonments police station. However after his caution statement he was detained at Adabraka polic cells and the next day handed over to his bosses at the Cantonments where he again spent the night in cooler before he was granted bail on Tuesday May 30, pending the outcome of the investigations into the case.

It would be recalled that early this year, another policeman at the Cantonments police station was arrested and detained at the police headquarters when he was said to have attempted to extort $62,000 from a suspect.

The IGP in 2004, ordered mass transfer of almost all the police personnel at the station when some suspected drug dealers mysteriously escaped from cells at the station.

The current developments have raised concern as to whether the mass transfer ordered by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr. Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, to weed out the bad-nut among the police personnel at the station had not turned to be fiasco.

Police officers were tight-lipped when The Sun reached them for their reaction. However the paper learnt that Service Query would be forwarded to Regional Commander about the conduct of Bonsu.

According to the Paper?s source Bonsu who was enlisted about nine years ago have already received queries from his bosses over some unauthorized and questionable operations but he seem not to have changed from his bad ways.