Police rescue alleged goat thief from lynching, detain him over murder

Police in the Eastern Region have detained a 20-year-old man to assist in investigations into the killing of two persons who were pursuing alleged goat thieves at Huhunya in the Yilo Krobo municipality.

Thomas Ayitey, a porter, was arrested Saturday in a bush at Agogo Junction by a mob who suspected him to be one of the alleged goat thieves.

The said thieves, numbering about three, were said to have shot dead two residents who chased them on a motorbike.

Police identified them as Kwame Tetefio, 31, a beads maker and a 45-year-old Aaron Padi Atema, a labourer at the GRA Barrier.

Two of the thieves, according to the Police, escaped into a bush, but one was arrested, tied into the boot of the saloon car they used for the stealing operation, and burnt alive by some angry mob at Huhunya.

Police are yet to identify the body which was burnt beyond recognition.

Few hours after the incident, a mob arrested Ayitey from a bush and took him to Huhunya claiming he was one of the two stealing escapees.

The irate mob of the town threatened to lynch Ayitey but he was rescued and detained at the Huhunya GRA Barrier.

Police swiftly went in and rescued Ayitey to the Police Station.

“When interrogated, he denied knowledge of the incident and said he and two others went to the bush of Otokporlu to convey lumber,” a police reporter stated.

But the police say they have detained him to assist in investigation into the case being treated as murder.