Police arrests 86 suspects in a swoop

The Manhyia Divisional Police Command on Wednesday arrested 86 suspected criminals from their hideouts in a special operation carried out in some communities within the jurisdiction of the Command in the Kumasi Metropolis.

The police suspected them to be engaging in narcotics, gambling and prostitution.

They are made up of 42 females and 44 males and were arrested at Asafo, around the Rex Cinema and the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI), Oforikrom and Dichemso near the Plaza Hotel.

Chief Superintendent Deborah Campbell, the Divisional Commander, told journalists at a briefing in Kumasi on Friday that, almost all the women were arrested on suspicion of soliciting for sex.

She explained that the operation was to send a strong signal to criminals living within the communities that, the police was poised to deal with crime without any fear or favour.

Chief Superintendent Campbell expressed gratitude to the opinion leaders in the communities for their support in an effort to reduce criminal activities, especially in the Zongo communities.

She noted that the Zongo communities were made up of good and law abiding people and the Command would not sit down for a few ones with criminal minds to tarnish the image of the communities in the Kumasi metropolis.

“For some time now, there had been sanity in the Division but the Command still want to maintain that level of sanity, as those few ones would be fished out," she stressed.

Ms. Campbell said the police was screening the suspects and those found culpable would be arraigned in due course.