Drug Peddlers Outwit Police

Squatters at Odawna behind the Neoplan Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, pulled a fast one on the police yesterday, when they threw into the Odaw drain, sacks-full of leaves suspected to the Indian hemp (wee) and bolted.

The squatters running helter skelter dumped the illicit drug into the drain when Accra Metropolitan Assembly task force under police guard stormed the place to continue with the demolition of illegal structures. People have constructed kiosks, stalls, and other structures which serve as places of abode, trading posts as well as hide-out for criminals including ‘wee’ and other narcotic drug peddlers.

The squatters looked helpless as the bulldozer razed down and mangled their illegal structures but some put up a brave effort to salvage whatever was left of their possessions.

About 100 make-shift sleeping places, bath house, kitchens, drinking bars, chop bars, barbers shops, and fitting shops were pulled down. The exercise formed part of effort by the AMA to decongest the city by removing illegal structures along drains and flood prone areas to stop perennial flooding of the metropolis.

Though the exercise was peaceful, the squatters bemoaned how they could cater for their children’s education, having lost their means of livelihood.

Some of the victims accused the city authorities of being insensitive to their plight in view of the unemployment situation in the country. AMA said it was unlawful for people to erect such structures and engage in nefarious activities.

An AMA official who spoke on condition of anonymity said some of the squatters erected the structures close to electricity poles and illegally connected light to them which they rented out.