Private legal practitioner and journalist, Sammy Darko, says the manner in which operatives of the National Security used a phone belonging to Citi News reporter, Caleb Kudah, to try to lure his colleague, Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo and arrest her was utterly absurd.
For him, the National Security officers should have operated within the law by securing a court warrant before accessing the contents of the journalist’s phone.
Sammy Darko also condemned how the operatives coerced Zoe not only to delete the images in contention but all other personal photos and videos she had on her phone at the time.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, Mr. Darko told host, Bernard Avle, that the officers at the National Security completely acted out of order and must be condemned.
“They even took Zoe’s phone when she came in and ordered her that, after she had deleted the prohibited image, [she should] go ahead and delete everything on her phone. Respectfully you ask, on what authority did Lieutenant Colonel Agyemang do that?”
On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, National Security operatives arrested and detained Caleb Kudah for filming some grounded MASLOC vehicles parked at the precincts of the National Security Ministry.
He was subsequently assaulted, had his phone seized and searched by the operatives, with materials deleted from it.
The National Security officers subsequently stormed Citi FM to pick up Zoe who had received some of the files from Caleb.
With widespread public condemnation of the unprofessional and dastardly act, Sammy Darko maintained that the seizure and accessing of the content of the mobile phones of the two journalists was unlawful.
“The National Security accused Caleb of using subterfuge to enter into their building, but it appears they also used subterfuge in accessing Caleb’s phone and then using that to communicate with Zoe. If you are a creation of law, then you must not act lawlessly but act within the law. The court has already pronounced that a security person cannot access your phone or electronic device unless with a warrant.”
“So they could have taken possession of the phone, quickly get a warrant, and access it with the help of the person. But what they did with all intent and purposes was legally untenable. The phone is not for you, but you go through it and scroll for what you wanted and even go to the extent of using that phone to communicate with his contact as if he is the one communicating with his contact. That is clearly legally wrong, and I think that whoever did that has gone overboard. They went too far”, he suggested.
Caleb Kudah in an interview with Bernard Avle on The Point Of View on Citi TV indicated that he was slapped several times by the security officers.
The Ministry of National Security on Thursday said it has begun investigations into the issue.