Police officer absolved of complicity in Chereponi ammunition transportation

Preliminary investigations have revealed the police officer who was escorting the Metro Mass Transit bus on which some 250 ammunition were discovered and seized Sunday evening did not travel with the bus from Tamale.

According to the Northern Regional Police Command, the unnamed officer joined the Chereponi bound bus from Yendi and not Tamale where the bus was loaded and took off from.

The boxes of cartridges, which were being transported to the conflict zone, were concealed under a seat in the bus that was being occupied by the said police officer when the discovery was made, sources within the BNI had told 3news.com.

Executive Director of Africa Center for Security and Counter-terrorism, Emmanuel Kotin told 3news.com Sunday that the police officer who was escorting the bus ought to have been arrested.

“The officers claimed there was nothing in the bus and so they should be allowed to pass …I think the Police are complicit because they found the ammunition under the seat where the police [officer] was sitting,” Mr Kotin who received information about the incident said.

He added: “They didn’t arrest the officer but under normal circumstances that shouldn’t have been the case”

But the Police on Monday explained the said seat was being occupied by a National Health Insurance Scheme official when the bus took off from Tamale.

The NHIS official, Mohammed Dueshi, according to the Police, was made to relocate from the seat at Yendi when the policeman joined the bus.

NHIS official arrested for transporting 250 ammunition to Chereponi “Because of its [the seat] proximity to the driver, the suspect was made to relocate for the [police] escort to position himself there,” a statement issued by the Northern Regional Police PRO, DSP Yussif Tanko on Monday stated.

“Also there is no evidence so far to establish that the officer did complain about the search of the vehicle but the passengers were reported to have complained because of the thoroughness of the search.

“It is also important to know that the BNI officer who is alleged to have made said allegation has not reported the alleged police officer’s conduct to authority for investigations and we only saw it in the media,” the statement indicated.

It said the said the policeman in question is part of the officers stationed at Chereponi following the conflict and that he was detailed to escort a vehicle from Chereponi to Yendi after which he waited for the Tamale-Chereponi bound bus to arrive and escort same safely to Chereponi.