75 Remanded in custody

By William Yaw Owusu.

Thursday, 25 May 2006
SEVENTY-Five suspected criminals rounded up in a police special operation in different suburbs of Accra have been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court.

The court presided over by Mr Samuel Kwame Asiedu did not take their plea and remanded them in custody until May 30.

Remanding them, the judge explained that “in situations like this, the police will need sometime to be able to conduct thorough screening.”

Immediately the judge remanded them, some of the suspects started wailing, others were furious at the court’s decision while a few were seen sitting calmly.

The wailing and shouting attracted a large crowd including relations of some of the suspects to the premises of the 28th February Road Courts popularly called Cocoa Affairs.

Assistant Superintendent of Police, Eric Amoako, told the court that “we brought the suspects to court because of the constitutional constraint on us.”

He said that the suspects “were part of those believed to be terrorizing residents of Accra.”

On May 12, he said that the Regional Police Command mounted an operation to rid the city of criminals and in the process arrested the suspects at the Accra Girls Secondary School area, the Railway Station in Kantamanto and Tudu respectively.

He further told the court that some of the suspects were openly smoking when they were arrested.