The Ghana Police Service claimed that they had intercepted the smuggled consignment based on intelligence and were in the process of escorting the truck to the Bawku Divisional Police Command.
The Herald has picked a report that the Bawku Divisional Commander, has been recommended for immediate withdrawal from Bawku in the Upper East Region, over a Cocoa Smuggling incident which resulted in a clash between some police, customs and military personnel.
The removal of ACP Adamu Seidu is on the recommendation of both the National Security and the Upper East Regional Security Council after investigations showed that he lied about the arrest of the Kia Rhino truck with registration number AS551-21, loaded with 20 bags of cocoa beans.
Customs officers on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, prevented some police personnel from aiding smuggling of the cocoa beans into neighbouring Togo, resulting in a clash between the three state security agencies, an assault on one G/Constable Nicholas Opare Junior and damages to a Police vehicle numbered GP3498.
The Regional Security Council (REGSEC) under the chairmanship of the Upper East Regional Minister, Hafiz Bin Salih, went into the matter and found the police to be at fault, hence the recommendation to remove the Bawku Divisional Commander.
Details on ACP Adamu Seidu is that he is a native of Bawku, and spent most of his police career in the Bawku area, including serving as a Crime Officer as well as a District Commander until his current appointment as the Divisional Commander.
The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), had called for reinforcement from the Ghana Armed Forces after the Police personnel who were caught escorting the cocoa beans out of Ghana to Togo, through Bawku, became rowdy.
Things degenerated between the Customs officers and the Military officers on one hand and the police officers on the other hand.
However, investigations established that the Customs officers, rather had received a tipoff about the smuggling of the cocoa beans to Togo where a bag was sold for GH¢10,000 as opposed to Ghana’s GH¢3,000, a day before and had laid ambush for the smugglers and their police escort.
Based on the information, the Customs officers, allowed the truck to drive through many of its barriers until the final checkpoint where it was arrested.
But out of shame, the police twisted the story that they had rather arrested the truck and that they were taking it into their custody. Attempts by Customs officers to detain the truck led to the clashes and the presence of the soldiers amid the firing of gunshots.
A police statement signed by ACP Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the Director of Police Public Administration, had acknowledged the confusion around the truck carrying smuggled bags of cocoa arrested at the checkpoint noting that tensions had escalated as the three different security agencies had varying interpretations of their roles and actions regarding the consignment.
The Ghana Police Service claimed that they had intercepted the smuggled consignment based on intelligence and were in the process of escorting the truck to the Bawku Divisional Police Command.
The explanation appeared to have been culled from a situation report by the Bawku Divisional Commander, ACP Adamu Seidu, on October 9, 2024, saying his men at about 10; 00 hours, intercepted a Kia Rhino truck loaded with an unspecified quantity of cocoa beans.
The cocoa beans, he went on to claim, were being smuggled into Togo, and he dispatched men to the scene to escort the said truck to the Bawku Police Station for a search to be conducted on the truck.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ghana Police Service denied claims of facilitating the smuggled cocoa beans intercepted at the Missiga security checkpoint at Bawku.
“We wish to state that the Ghana Police Service yesterday, October 9, 2024, intercepted the smuggled consignment based on intelligence, and were in the process of escorting the truck to the Bawku Divisional Police Command for the consignment to be handed over to COCOBOD and the culprits investigated and prosecuted by the Police in line with established protocol with Ghana COCOBOD,” it said.
“For the record, the Police recently intercepted smuggled cocoa beans on two occasions within the region, and the intercepted consignments were handed over to COCOBOD, while the suspects are currently being prosecuted by the Police. It is, therefore, untrue that the Police were in any way facilitating the smuggled consignments, as being claimed.”
