Mysterious Disappearance Hits Tema

Residents of Tema Community Five are yet to recover from shock following the mysterious disappearance of a 60-year-old Cuban electronic technician of the Tema-based Pioneer Food Cannery (PFC), which the Community Two police are investigating. An independent inquisition revealed that, at about 07:00 hours on May 1, this year, Sergio Valdes Morris said goodbye to his mother-in-law, with whom he was living at Tema Community Five Parks and Gardens area as he entered a waiting taxi cab and left. When the old lady enquired where he was going, he reportedly said he would be back soon, and that was the last information on the Cuban who has been living and working in Ghana over the last seven years. His Ghanaian girlfriend, a certain Maggie, speaking to this reporter at Tema, said the last time Sergio visited her he had a lot of US dollars in his wallet, and when he was questioned as to why he chose to carry that huge amount on him, he stated that he felt safe keeping it on him rather than leaving it in the room. Tema is already battling with other mysterious disappearances in recent times. On February 15, this year, Daavi Awo Geraldo Bledge, 73, disappeared from her Tema Community Seven home near the Joint Church. Information available to The Chronicle indicates that on that fateful day, at about 6:30 p.m., when lights were not coming on as a result of a blackout from the Electricity Company of Ghana, Daavi sent one of her grandchildren to go and buy kerosene to light a lantern. We gathered that when the grandchild was not forthcoming, the old lady, using only a cover cloth, went out of the house, and that was the last time she was seen. The police is also searching for the whereabouts of No 38222 L/Cpl. Michael Adamtey, bodyguard of the Director-General of Police Operations, Commissioner of Police (COP) John Kudalor. Meanwhile, the Police Forensic Laboratory in Accra is conducting a DNA examination on a human skull which was found at Tema Newtown, to ascertain if it was that of L/Cpl. Adamtey. The parents of the disappeared bodyguard, Elizabeth Odonkor, 60, and Eric K. Odonkor, 68, have assisted crime experts at the laboratory with dental information to enhance their examination. Investigations have revealed that on March 28, 2012, personnel of the Waste Management Division of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, who were desilting a drain and sewerage system at the Tema Manhean Junior High School, which connects the central sewerage system to the sea at Tema Newtown, led by Charlotte Adjei, discovered the mortal remains of an unknown dead man. A report was made to the Tema Newtown police the following day, March 29, and an officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Osman Alhassan, led a team of detectives to the scene close to a manhole. It was detected that the limb bone had been taken away by unknown person(s), leaving behind the skull, rib and backbone. The remains were then sent to the Police Hospital Mortuary for preservation. Investigations further disclosed that following a directive from the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Mr. Prosper Agblorh, the remains were handed over to the forensic laboratory for further scientific examination. Based on a report to the police by the wife of the disappeared bodyguard (also a policewoman), the detectives decided to fall on her for assistance. She first produced a photograph of the missing bodyguard and later led the parents of L/Cpl. Michael Adamtey to the crime laboratory. About two months ago, the two elderly persons were subjected to dental forensic examinations to see if it could form a lead for further investigations into the disappearance of the bodyguard. Our sources at the CID Headquarters hinted that if the result of the DNA test on the skull proved to be that of L/Cpl. Adamtey, the stage would be set for an investigation into who might have killed him, and the motive behind it. In the early hours of September 22, 2009, L/Cpl. Mike Adamtey mysteriously disappeared from the Tema Newtown police barracks and has since not been seen. According to his wife, very typical of him, he polished his boots and ironed his uniform, ready for the day work. His wife took the lead to the barracks bathhouse and waited for him, and when he was not coming after she had her bath, she returned to the room only to find out that he was not there. Since then, every effort by detectives and sympathisers to unravel the mysterious disappearance of the bodyguard had proven futile.