Three Togolese soldiers nearly lynched for trying to arrest a 'dissident' in Ghana

But for the timely intervention of the Ghana Police Service, three soldiers serving in the Togolese army would have been beaten to death by villagers of a community in the Volta Region.

The soldiers had entered Ghana allegedly through unapproved route to ostensibly affect the arrest of a man they claimed is a dissident.

The Volta Regional Police Commander who confirmed the incident to TV3’s Midday Live on Wednesday said, residents, resisted the military men and rather subjected the three to severe beatings.

The residents of the village called Aboako denied that man whom they tried to arrest is a dissident because he is a known native of the community.

According to DCOP Francis Doku, the police in Jasikan were informed about the attempt by the residents to lynch some soldiers who have entered Ghana to arrest a suspect.

The police together with the District Chief Executive of Jasikan, he said, moved in to “rescue the soldiers”.

“But for the timely intervention of the police they would have been lynched,” DCOP Doku told TV3’s, Portia Gabor.

The police later, based on preliminary investigations, found out that the man the soldiers tried to arrest “had not stepped foot in Togo”, he observed.

However, after briefly detaining the soldiers, the Regional Commander said they were released following a conversation with the Sector Commander of the Togolese army close to that area.

The men were successfully escorted to the Togo border to avoid any further attack on them, the senior police officer said.

However, he said the case has been handed over to the Interpol in Ghana to take the issue up with their Togolese counterpart, conceding that the soldiers flouted the procedure to follow when you go beyond your territory to affect arrest in a sovereign state.

Meanwhile, security analyst Adam Bona believes the issue at stake is bigger than the Regional Security Council and had therefore expected Regional Police Commander to have transferred the suspects to the headquarters in Accra to ensure that the soldiers actually didn’t come to do more than what it’s known now.

“The issue looks a bit murkier,” he analyzed and questioned the security at Ghana’s border.

If the villagers had not been vigilant, he pointed out, the border security wouldn’t have been aware of their entry, noting that such cross-border arrests have been happening.

Instead of a “common” commander from Togo calling to negotiate for their release, Adam Bona had expected the head of national security in Togo should have been the one calling for their release.