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While police intensify efforts to arrest a suspect who was part of a group that attacked its officers in the Western Region, the suspect is speaking out.
Kwame Ato Asare Ani and four others were seen in a viral video heckling some policemen in an attempt to snatch their weapons.
“Kwame, we beg you,” one of the policemen is heard saying while on his knees as his rifle is being taken away from him by the visibly angry men.
In a statement over the weekend, the Police Service confirmed that the incident took place on March 9 after which the Axim Divisional Police patrol team reported an attack on the team by a gang that seized the magazine of a Service rifle together with some mobile phones.
According to the communique, an intelligence operation was launched after which four members of the gang were arrested on March 28.
They are; Kojo Siah alias Mozey; Emmanuel Mensah alias Kofi Asamoah, Maxwell Cudjoe and Agyabu Haruna Dissawu.
However, the police revealed an ongoing manhunt for the prime suspect Kwame Ato Asare Ani after a search conducted at his residence led to the retrieval of three pump-action shotguns.
But Ani is not laying low and appears to be speaking publicly from his hideout amid a bounty on his head.
In a phone interview with Accra-based UTV, Kwame Ani told his side of the scuffle that ensued in the forest between his gang and the officers.
He explained that contrary to reports he rather served as a known informant for the Axim police.
Kwame says he has played this role including an occasional liaison for the police’s anti-galamsey operations in the area.
According to him, he collects monies from the galamsey operators in the area for the police in exchange for protection from criminals.
He explained that his bad blood with the police officers started when he decided to withhold payment from the officers after taking delivery of GHC100,000 from some illegal miners.
Kwame said he took this path because his crew felt cheated from a previous deal where the policemen gave them peanuts from
“The full amount they got was GHs30,000 but gave us only GHs2,000,” he said while recounting the previous development.
Kwame Ato Asare, the wanted gang member who allegedly attacked police officers in Axim speaks#UTVNews pic.twitter.com/Ttokzxp845
— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) April 3, 2023
This, according to Kwame, is why he also decided to pay them back in their coin.
In the viral video, the young man presumed to be Kwame is heard saying that “I had showed you the site and was telling you to drop me off, but you said you were taking me away.”
“You were coming for money from the site and we have paid you. So why were you want to still keep me in the vehicle? Where were you taking me?” he quizzed.
It is for this reason that he believes the police have tagged him as a robber to court public disaffection against him and cover up what he sees as the actual narrative.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service says the allegation of extortion against the officers has been referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSP) for investigation.
