The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has started yet another season of arbitrary arrests and detention of Ghanaians without charge, information reaching Daily Guide indicates. Bashiru Muhammed aka Red, A tamale-based activist of the opposition New Patriotic Party, was picked up at the Kotoka International Airport just after arriving from South Africa around 12:30 am on Sunday and thrown into BNI cells for some 16 hours before he was released around 4:00pm on the say day, without any charge of explanation for his arrest and detention.
His passport and other personal belongings have also been confiscated. Red, one of the 40 NPP members who joined soccer fans to cheer the Black Stars in South Africa, said he was picked up at the airport just after completing immigration formalities on arrival. Bashiru explained to Daily Guide that one of the persons he was travelling with whispered something to a BNI official standing not far from the immigration post and pointed at him. “The BNI man then asked me to bring my passport and when I gave it to him, he said I had been arrested and that he was from the BNI.
I asked what I had done wrong but he said I would be told when we get to the office so I should go for my luggage.
“I then shouted to inform one of my brothers that I had been arrested, so he should send my luggage home and inform my people. But when my brother came for the luggage, he was arrested and both of us were put in handcuffs”, Bashiru noted. He said a police vehicle was called and he was thrown in and driven straight to the BNI headquarters at Ridge in Accra where a form was given to him to fill, after which he was thrown straight into cells without any questioning.
“When we reached there, I heard the man on duty asking the police people what my issue was and they said they were asked to bring me but were not sure what exactly I had done…Then around 3:30pm, they came for me again and said I should call someone to bail me. “The only person I could call was still at the airport waiting for his luggage so they released me and said I should return on Monday at 9:00am but they would keep my passport and two digital cameras until I return on Monday.
I again asked why I was brought there and what I had done but they still staid they did not know and that it was one of those things; but just to make sure I return, they would keep my passport,” Bashiru narrated. When asked what information the form he was made to fill requested for him, Bashiru said it was mostly on bio-date, contact details and what property he had.
