Show of Force: Police descend heavily on informant

The scene outside the studio's of Adom FM. Listeners who heard of the police invasion trooped to the studio to observe what was happening. In the background (Behind the mast) are two of the cars brought in by the police to arrest the informer. Troops of police from the Tema Central Command Tuesday besieged the studios of Adom FM to arrest an informant who had publicly accused some police personnel in the Brong Ahafo Region of supplying him with uniforms to arrest armed robbers and wee peddlers. The 19-year-old informant (Kofi Boakye), a resident of Tain in the Brong Ahafo Region, alleged that some police personnel in Wenchi were in league with “wee” farmers and that he (informant) was sometimes recruited by the police to fake arrest of the peddlers. He came into the Adom FM studios with one police uniform to substantiate his allegation. He said the uniform was issued to him officially by the police. The informant alleged that he had early on informed the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and the leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Kofi Wayo to provide him with security in view of his revelations. But moments into the program, the police, numbering about 10, stormed the premises of Adom FM and took positions, demanding the release of the informant while the morning show, Dwaso Nsεm, was still on-air. For almost two hours, the entire production team of the morning show, together with panelists on the program and the informant became virtual hostages in the studio as the police laid siege. The informant became an instant hero as hundreds of people rushed to catch a glimpse of him while being whisked away by the police after the programme. The Dwaso Nsεm team, made up of Ekuorba Gyasi, Kojo Preko and Kojo Addo accompanied the informant to the police station to assist in the investigations. Criminal offence The police officers waiting in one of their vehicles to effect the arrest of the informer. During the programme, DSP Kwesi Fori, Police Director in charge of Public Relations, who contributed to the discussions, expressed disquiet that the informant was waging a campaign to disgrace the police, claiming that Kofi Boakye had carried his activities to several media platforms. He pointed out that Boakye’s confession of being in possession of police uniform is a criminal conduct that needed to be investigated and that anyone who attempted to prevent his arrest, faced charges. Kofi Boakye had claimed that he had long tipped the police off in the nefarious activities of some of the residents but the police had not taken any concrete measures to bring them to book. Several callers to the programme condemned the police reaction and called for Boakye’s protection, with some maintaining that such knee-jerk reactions only worsen police and public cooperation on combating crime. Credit: Nii Noi Vanderpuye/Adom FM