FULL TEXT: Military issues statement on Ashaiman swoop

The Military High Command has confirmed authorizing what they call a “swoop” on the Ashaiman township in search of killers of a young soldier on March 4, 2023.

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) issued a statement in the morning of March 8, 2023 stated that the action was targeted at killers of a young soldier and not to brutalize residents of the township.

“GAF wishes to state categorically that the military operation, which was sanctioned by the Military High Command, was NOT to avenge the killing of the soldier but rather to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime,” the statement noted.

FULL STATEMENT: MILITARY CONDUCTS SWOOP AT ASHAIMAN TARGETED AT KILLERS OF YOUNG SOLDIER

Personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on Tuesday 7 March 2023, conducted a swoop in Ashaiman and its environs in a man-hunt for some criminals, who are suspected to have stabbed and killed a young soldier (Trooper Imoro Sherrif) in the early hours of Saturday 4 March 2023, at Ashaiman-Taifa. Trooper Sherrif, who is stationed in Sunyani, was in Accra on a Course and had sought permission to visit his parents at Ashaiman where he grew up, but was found in a pool of blood in the early hours of Saturday near the Amania Hotel in Ashaiman.

GAF wishes to state categorically that the military operation, which was sanctioned by the Military High Command, was NOT to avenge the killing of the soldier but rather to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime. Following the operations at Ashaiman-Taifa and Tulaku, the military personnel picked up about 184 suspects aged between 21 and 47 years old and have since handed them over to the Military Police and subsequently to be sent to the Ghana Police Service for screening and for further action. During the course of the swoop, the personnel seized 29 slabs and 57 mini slabs of suspected indian hemp and amnesia among other forms of the narcotics.

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) also wishes to place on record that the swoop was not targeted at innocent civilians but was an intelligence-led operation conducted on suspected hideouts of criminals and crime-prone areas in the general area. GAF however acknowledges that regrettably some innocent persons might have been caught up in the operation and consequently suffered some distress due to the location they found themselves at the time.

GAF accordingly wishes to urge the general public to provide useful information, support the security agencies in weeding out criminals and miscreants from our communities and to desist from shielding and conniving with such suspects in order to the curb criminal activities

E AGGREY-QUASHIE
Brigadier General
Director General Public Relations