Personnel of the National Highway Patrol Unit have arrested a young man, Prosper Azi, for impersonation.

Azi is believed to be the son of a military officer with the 48 Engineers Regiment. The 30-year-old, who gave his name as Sgt. K. Yeboah, was arrested on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at about 1:30pm on a metro mass transport bus registered GW 5029 Y near the Shai hills, when he sought to obstruct police from carrying out their lawful duty.

In his narration, the commander of the National Highways Patrol Unit, Superintendent Obed Dzikunu, said officers from his unit who were detailed on the Ho-Accra road stopped the bus, which was being driven by Akpe Raymond, at Shai Hills.

No sooner had the police begun a search in the booth than Prosper Azi confronted them, obstructing them from carrying out their lawful duty.

Azi introduced himself as Sgt. K. Yeboah from the 48 Engineers Regiment at Teshie, Accra, and demanded that the police should allow the bus to go.

The police, on the other hand, demanded to inspect his identity card.

Instead of obliging, Azi brought out a polythene bag containing military regalia and a bayonet, seeking to convince the police that it was his uniform.

The officers got alarmed and probed further. The young man then revealed that the uniform belonged to his dad, explaining that he stole the uniform and removed the original name from it.

He then had the name Sgt. K. Yeboah embossed on it to outwit security.

A further check revealed pictures he had taken with the uniform, several passport photographs and a list of telephone numbers.

Azi told the police that he tried to join the army but was not successful. The police boss used the opportunity to advise the youth to stay out of trouble. He disclosed that the security and sister services were recruiting, calling on interested persons to apply.

He called on the public to continually cooperate with the police and inform them about suspicious characters in the society.

The police boss advised the public not to confront the police during searches since that was one of the means that criminals could be uncovered.

A check has revealed that suspect Azi’s father is indeed a military man at the Teshie camp but the man has since refused to visit his son, who is currently resting in the cells of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters