Accra, May 26, GNA - Residents near the Osu Cemetery have been living in constant fear of robbery at night over the past few months and they are have appealed to the police to arrest a group of Indian hemp smokers operating in the cemetery.

They snatch mobile phones and bags and dash to the cemetery, Dr Simpson Boateng, Director of Metropolitan Public Health of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), told the GNA in an interview. He said their illegal operation in the cemetery had given rise to a lot of criminal activities in the area including grave digging. Dr Boateng said several attempts to discourage them from operating in the cemetery had failed and sometimes the officer in charge of the cemetery is met with insults.

Alhaji Ahmed Annan, the AMA Sexton in charge of cemeteries who confirmed the story, described it as very disturbing and said this did not promote good relationship between mourners and the AMA staff. "It's like we brought them there but we do not know where they came from to organize themselves in the cemetery." He said they pretend to be sometimes grave diggers or AMA staff and direct mourners to bury their dead at wrong places. 26 May 09