An Akropong Circuit Court has set April 25, 2018, to sentence two (2) of the eight (8) young men who were arrested for posing as military officers.
This was after they were charged with unauthorized use of military uniform and abetment of crime.
The eight were arrested over the weekend after they were found loitering around the presidential apartment at the Peduase Lodge, near Aburi in the Eastern Region.
[contextly_sidebar id=”YJnDdh9jYO9BhVREX9oZVYdOK3jEo20h”]Their leader, Abdul Rashid Mohammad, 20, was apprehended by the Combat 8 patrol team from Accra, together with guards on duty at the Presidential Lodge upon intelligence.
Speaking to Citi News, the Eastern Regional Police Public Relations Office, ASP Ebenezer Tetteh, said Abdul Rashid and the one who supplied him with the military uniform, Sowa, have pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against them, while the six others have been granted police enquiry bail.
“On Monday, they were put before an Akropong Circuit Court presided over by Mrs. Charlotte Akosua Asem and they were charged with unauthorized use of military uniform contrary to Act 1967 (NLCD decree, section 177).”
“The other person who was charged alongside the one who was spotted wearing the military uniform, that is Abdul Rashid Mohammad, is Sowa. Sowa was charged with abetment of crime to wit unauthorized use of military uniform contrary to section 29 of the criminal offences Act, Act 2960, and they both pleaded guilty to the offences and sentencing was deferred to the 25th of April. So as we speak now, both of them are in police custody awaiting sentencing.”
He said the other six were granted bail because they “belonged to a Cadet Corps.”
“They came from Kasoa and other parts of the country to mourn with a colleague who had died and was going to be buried on Saturday. Our investigations indicated that the mourners spotted them around the funeral grounds before they were later spotted wearing the [military] uniform. And their reason for wearing the sea blue and the other tops which looked like a military uniform was to mourn with their colleague and to show love to him. So we granted them bail pending further investigations,” ASP Tetteh added.
Mohammed according to reports, works with the parcel office of the VVIP transport company, and confessed that he got the uniform from one Sowa.
Impersonation of security officers a common occurrence?
This is not the first time such impersonation cases have been recorded in the country.
In January 2018, a 27-year-old man, Prince Ferguson Essel, was detained for impersonating a military officer.
Essel was picked up by police in Nsawam after complaints from some people that he had taken large sums of money from them under the pretext of ensuring that their wards are recruited into the military.
Also in November 2017, police mounted a fierce search for a 28-year-old man, Francis Boakye, who allegedly defrauded a man of an amount of GH¢28, 000, while pretending to be a member of the military.
In September 2017, a 25-year-old, Prince Baah, was sentenced to eight years in prison for posing as a police officer and deceiving innocent citizens.
He pleaded guilty to counts of impersonation, stealing and deceit of public officer
A 32-year-old driver who impersonated as a soldier and defrauded two drivers of GH₡ 24,400 was also arrested and jailed.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Pearl A. Ofori/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
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