How the excesses of Anti Armed Robbery Squad in Wa is making life unbearable for residents

Following the alleged killing of a 23-year-old man in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region by the Anti Armed Robbery Squad of the Police in the municipality, many residents have reiterated calls to the Police Command to reaccess their operations in the town to save residents.

According to residents, the harassment of innocent citizens every now and then has become one too many which is worrying to the people.

They allege that officers from the squad take delight in visiting violence on their victims given the least opportunity particularly at night.

They claim the Police are often fond of going around chasing people sitting at night for air, to go inside and sleep as though the town was under a curfew of a sort.

Many of them therefore became angered over the killing of Abubakar Shaahid from Dondoli, a suburb in Wa.

They are calling on the Inspector General of Police to call them to order as their excesses were becoming a great concern to residents.

They wondered why in this warm environment in Northern Ghana especially in this month, people who want to sit outside at night to enjoy some fresh air before going to bed cannot do so.

The excesses of this squad has become topical in the local media since last week who are also accused of using machetes to attack their victims apart from the fire arms.

The deceased was allegedly shot and killed by the Anti Armed Robbery Squad around 8:pm last Wednesday night, March 8, 2023, near Tanbileju on his way to visit a family friend.

According to a family spokesperson, Muhammed Tamim, the Police claimed the deceased was an armed robber of a robbery gang terrorising residents, an allegation the family refuted.

The family described the accusations of the Police as lies and said their ward was a good man with no criminal history whatsoever he had never stolen before while he was alive.

Narrating the incident, Muhammed Tamim said: "Last night at about 7-8:pm, I had a call from a man at Tanbileju who we call Maalam Umar. He's our family friend and Shaahid (the deceased) usually visited the man to help him with his work. The man is there (at Tanbileju) but has a room in town so the deceased usually ferries him to town (to pass the night). So he was as usual on his way to go and take the man when he was shot dead by the Police. So how do I get to know he was shot by the Police?"

"The man (Maalam Umar) called to tell me that the deceased was coming to take him but because he, Maalam Umar, was hearing gunshots in the area he called to tell the deceased not to come anymore due to the gunshots, only for the deceased to inform the Maalam that he had already been hit by a bullet. So I tried calling Shaahid, the deceased, but he couldn't answer the call. So I called the Assembly Member of the area to make enquiries about the issue. He told me he saw some officers at a checkpoint around the area but they denied involvement in the operations but mentioned the anti-robbery taskforce and asked him to go to the CID office. According to their narration, the Police said that they stopped the deceased who was riding a motorbike but that after stopping, he abandoned the bike and started running away. But for me, I said how can you stop a person, he stops and then leaves his motorbike and starts running away? And then you shot his stomach. When somebody is running away from you, is it not his back that you can shoot, but not his stomach?"

He added that the family would do everything possible to clear the name of Shaahid, calling for an independent probe into the matter.

Attempts by Upper West Blog to get the response of the Police on the issue has not been successful even though they confirmed the deceased was killed by their men and insisted he was an armed robber.

The Command after promising to feed the media and general public with a press statement on the incident, is yet to release same almost 120hours after the incident happened.



Source: Upper West Blog