Aflao residents accuse security forces of harassment

Residents of Aflao in the Ketu South Municipality have raised concerns about a recent swoop by security agents in the area describing it as a show of force and harassment.

The Aflao Police with support from Military and Immigration officers on Thursday night carried out an operation to arrest about 28 persons suspected to be dealing with drugs including; cannabis and other hard drugs.

Some of the affected persons accused the security officers of harassing innocent citizens including; a nursing mother, who had her child strapped at the back just upon mere suspicion.

Mr Mensah Tay, a commercial motorist said he was on his way to buy medication from a chemical store around Timber Market, Aflao when he was arrested and made to spend the night away from home.

Mr Bright Dagba, who was on a visit to Aflao from Agbozume said he was shocked at the manner his arrest was effected and called on the security officers only to arrest based on forensic intelligence and not by looks as appearances could be deceptive.

“I came out to the Timber Market area on my private motorbike and these officers stopped me and asked me to lie down. You cannot imagine what they did to me and the other people they arrested.

“Some soldiers there hit me, made me wait there for 20 minutes and over. We were later taken to the Immigration office at the border and then to the Police Station at Tokor, where we spent the night.

“I may twist my hair but that doesn’t make me a weed smoker or criminal. They should not look at some of us with these looks and suspect us to be criminals,” he said.

Chief Superintendent, Mr Patrick Kwapong, Aflao Divisional Police Commander, who denied the accusations said the swoop was based on intelligence the officers picked on criminal activities by some residents in the area.

He said the security agents were committed to clampdown on drug use in particular, which was on the rise in Aflao noting, though substances were retrieved at locations of the swoop, not a single one of the suspects arrested could be pinned to them, “an indication that these persons might have thrown away the exhibits upon seeing the police.”

Meanwhile, calls to the officer in charge of military personnel deployed to Ketu South for his reaction proved unsuccessful.