Arresting Citi FM CEO Was of No Purpose - Gina Blay

Gina Blay, CEO of Western Publications Ltd. publishers of Daily Guide newspaper has said the arrest of the Chief Executive Officer of Accra based private radio station Citi FM; Samuel Attah-Mensah was a big blunder. According to her, the arrest was a wrong approach by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) after describing the detention as a mere showoff. �There was no purpose of the arrest. It was just a circus. I simply don�t get it. What did he [Samuel Mensah] do?� she questioned. Samuel Attah-Mensah�s arrest Samuel Attah-Mensah was invited by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for questioning after citifmonline.com had broken the news about the arrest of a suspected cocaine courier who supposedly carried a diplomatic passport. The publication noted that the lady in question is a Ghanaian woman and was arrested by security operatives at the Heathrow Airport in London for possessing cocaine weighing 12kg. She is believed to be in her 30�s and name was given as Nayeli Ametefeh. She also possessed a Ghanaian and an Austrian passport with different names. Her Ghanaian passport number is G0364497 while her Austrian passport number is P4187659. She was busted in London even though she went through immigration procedures at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra. Government's denial of diplomatic passport held by the drug dealer [Nayeli] The Minister of Communications, Omane Boamah on several media platforms denied strongly that the lady arrested possessed a Ghanaian diplomatic passport after many believe she is a sympathizer of the ruling NDC as reported. Directives from government led to the arrest of the Citi FM�s CEO, Mr. Samuel Atta-Mensah for cross-examination. Samuel Attah-Mensah released Samuel Attah Mensah, who was picked early Monday morning, was released late in the night by the BNI after he was invited for questioning. According to him, he says he was not detained and interrogated per se. Mr. Atta-Mensah said he was questioned for only about three minutes, after which he discussed social issues with his interrogators. �I gave them an account of what happened and it took three minutes, and then we used another 45 minutes to one hour talking about everything from football, to alcohol to religion and everything,� he told reporters after his released. However, in an interview with JOY FM, Mrs. Gina insisted that, the BNI goofed for their action and questioned their operatives. �BNI should have organised a press conference to address the situation, not to arrest the owner of a media house. Targeting the media is so wrong. It is just like elsewhere when journalists are beheaded,� she said, �I believe Citi FM performed the necessary checks because it took a while before they published the story,� she added.