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The Police in Ho have attracted the displeasure of some residents in the municipality after they allegedly shot a suspected drug pusher last Wednesday evening.
Although the Police described the incident as accidental, other eyewitnesses who spoke to DAILY GUIDE claimed otherwise. According to the eyewitnesses who pleaded anonymity, the young man was allegedly shot without provocation.
On Wednesday, 2nd March 2016, policemen from the Regional Police Command undertook a swoop of suspected dens of drug users, addicts and dealers in the Ho Municipality.
The operation which involved about 30 police officers led by an inspector of the SWAT unit, covered Anlokodzi particularly the ‘Kpako enclave,’ the area behind the Metro Mass Bus terminal; opposite the main Commercial Bus Terminal in Ho.
In the course of the operation, one person who is popularly referred to as Fulani was shot. He is believed to be in his early thirties. Residents said the deceased who was a scrap dealer was also called Fulani due to his resemblance of the Fulani tribe.
The incident was confirmed by the Volta Regional Police Commander, DCOP Peterkin Yentumi Gyinae. Narrating the incident to DAILY GUIDE, the Volta Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent Adamu Seidu said on the night of the operation, the policemen made the swoop in different groups in order to cover the area thoroughly.
In the course of the operation, one of the officers came into contact with three suspects and one quickly accosted him with a struggle. In the course of the struggle, the officer’s rifle fell and another policeman who chanced on the scuffle rushed to pick the weapon.
Just as he picked the gun, another suspect also grabbed him leading to another scuffle. In the course of the melee, the weapon went off hitting the suspect in the abdomen.
Other suspects rushed to the scene forcing the police to flee for their dear lives. Eyewitnesses then took the injured man to the Ho Municipal Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
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10 other suspects were later arrested and are being processed for court. Supt. Adamu Seidu said the police are yet to locate the family of the deceased and has appealed to the public to volunteer information to enable them find the family.
However during an interaction with some of the eyewitnesses, they presented a different picture.
They claimed, per the slim stature of the deceased, there is no way he could struggle with the able bodied police officer.
One of them indicated that they all started running for cover when the police barged into their hideout. Unknown to them, some of the officers had hidden along some of the escape routes.
“We all run in one direction with the deceased ahead of us and as we moved a little forward, we heard ‘poo’ and we saw Fulani fell,” he narrated as he eyes turned teary.
He said Fulani in spite of that, stood up and struggle to run but fell. The police later returned to pick him up and send him to the Police station where he was pronounced dead. Contrary to the claim by the police that he was shot in the abdomen, eyewitnesses said he was shot in the head; the chin through the eye.
They revealed that at the morgue some policemen came to search Fulani’s pockets and took away his wallet, and other metal scraps which “the Police said was an exhibit.”
This was the third time a suspected drug dealer has been accidentally shot by the police. In all the cases, the residents argued, it was not accidental.
