Blaming police over Miotso killings premature - BIA

The Bureau for Internal Affairs (BIA), said it is premature to blame the police for the death of two persons at Miotso in the Greater Accra Region since the issue was purely a land dispute.

The BIA, which is a centre for intelligence gathering on the concerns of the public said the murder was related to a land dispute between Miotso and Dawhenya communities.

A statement issued by Mr Godfred Nkrumah, the Coordinating Director of the Bureau said the dispute was sent to the Supreme Court and judgement was given in favour of the Dawhenya community.

It claimed that investigations carried by the BIA revealed that land guards from Miotso numbering about 20 and armed with Ak-47 rifles attacked Dahwenya with bulldozers to demolish properties amidst the firing of warning shots.

The police were called in and with the support of the youth managed to arrest some of the land guards and the guns, which led to the death of the two persons.

The BIA is, therefore, calling on National Security to arrest those who recruited the land guards and where they got the military gear and the weapons to carry out the operations.

The statement said there should also be investigations into where the bulldozers were engaged for the operations.

In another development, the Arden Darpoh Royal Family of Dawhenya has warned land guards who are terrorising people in the town to put an end to their nefarious activities or face their wrath.

A statement issued at Dawhenya by Mr Faraday Martey Arden, the Head of the Royal Family said some illegal land dealers had engaged the services of land guards from Accra to dupe people interested in acquiring lands.

It said a case in point was on December 29, last year when about 20 land guards dressed in military uniforms with AK-47 guns invaded Dawhenya to support the activities of the illegal land dealers, amidst firing.

Some of the land guards were overpowered and arrested by the police with the support of the youth.

The statement said: “As law abiding citizens, all land guards are advised to stay off Dawhenya lands or do so at their own risk.

“We also call on the public to do proper enquiries before buying any land in Dawhenya as the authorities have put in place a land committee to check the illegal sales of land and land guard activities.”