Debtor Sends Police On Wild Goose Chase

A 28-year-old chainsaw operator in the Jomoro District in the Western Region has found himself in the grip of the law for allegedly sending the police on a wild goose chase. The accused, Kwame Yeboah, who has already been remanded in custody by the Sekondi Magistrate Court for raising a false alarm, reportedly alerted the police to an armed robbery that was to be perpetrated at Elubo and led a squad of heavily armed policemen to the supposed base of the gang that was supposed to undertake the armed robbery. However, the search for the armed robbers was said to have ended up at the house of Yeboah�s creditor who had seized Yeboah�s belongings for failing to pay up. Instead of arresting alleged armed robbers, the heavily armed policemen who had been deployed by the Western Regional Police Command rather ended up retrieving a mobile phone, a pair of slippers and a shirt which had been seized from the �informant� to settle his indebtedness. Botched operation At the end of the botched operation, it came out that Yeboah, a resident of Sowodadiem Nyamebekyere, near Elubo, was being pursued by his creditor for his failure to supply him with illegal lumber at an agreed time. Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police Ms Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, said to scare the villagers and his creditor, the accused rushed to the Regional Police Command in Sekondi to alert the police to an impending armed robbery operation. She said on arrival at the Regional Police Command, Yeboah mustered courage and confidently insisted on seeing the Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Alex Quainoo. At the commander�s office, Yeboah told him that four armed men had arrived in from Kumasi and that a pastor, Thomas Kwamina, aka Ozorka, was hosting them in his house at Sowodadiem. Yeboah was said to have told the police that the armed robbers had gone to Sowodadiem with three pump action guns and one pistol with 12 rounds of ammunition. The accused told the police that the robbers had targeted three points at Elubo and that if the police failed to act immediately there would be serious consequences. Interestingly, based on the seriousness Yeboah attached to the narration and its consistency, Mr Quainoo mobilised and deployed men from the Rapid Deployment Force to Elubo to apprehend the supposed armed robbers. That was after the police had accorded Yeboah a �very hospitable reception while in Sekondi� as an �informer�, Ms Adiku said. On reaching Elubo, the police, in Hollywood style, surrounded the residence of the alleged host of the armed robbers, much to the amazement of the entire community, and wasted no time in arresting him. However, to their own shock and disbelief, they discovered, during interrogation, that Yeboah had a problem with Kwamina and had, therefore, decided to use the police to settle it. Ms Adiku said preliminary investigations revealed that the accused owed Kwamina GH�120, as a result of which Kwamina had seized Yeboah�s Samsung mobile phone, a shirt and a pair of slippers. When Yeboah was interrogated, he confirmed Kwamina�s claim. The accused is to reappear before the court on September 16, 2014 for hearing.