15 Arrested for attacking police station

Fifteen suspects have been arrested in Kenyase Number One in the Asutifi District in the Brong Ahafo Region for allegedly attacking the policemen and vandalising the police station in the town. 

The police had to fire warning shots to scare the youth away from causing more havoc. In the process, one of the irate young men was hit by a bullet and rushed to the St Elizabeth Hospital at Hwediem for attention.

The suspects are said to have stormed the police station with machetes, guns and other offensive weapons after a resident of Kenyase, Collins Sarfo, 26, a dealer in mobile phones, had been remanded by the Goaso Circuit Court for two weeks for allegedly impregnating the daughter of a policeman.

The names of the suspects were not available at the time of filing this report.

The decision of the court is said not to have gone down well with a section of the youth, for which reason they allegedly attacked the policemen and vandalised the police station.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Robert Ayalingo, who briefed the Daily Graphic on the incident, said the police were still looking for more suspects.

He said he had contemplated relocating the police station at Kenyase to another place to serve as a deterrent to other communities whose youth might resort to similar actions.

However, DCOP Ayalingo indicated that the Omanhene of the Kenyase Traditional Area, Nana Osei Kofi Abiri II, and the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Joseph Daha, had pleaded with him to rescind that decision.

The MP, who corroborated the police story, said the action by the irate youth compelled the police to fire warning shots, one of which hit one of the young men.

Mr Daha said the District Chief Executive for Asutifi, Mr Eric Addae, and Nana Abiri had condemned the action of the youth.

He noted that there was a long-standing relationship between the police and the people of Kenyase which should be sustained and asked that the current stand-off be resolved amicably.

Story: Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah