The Ghana Police Service has responded to the Ghana Bar Association, GBA’s claim that there is an upsurge in crime in the country.
A GBA statement of May 30, 2022, decried what it said was a rising spate of crime across the country following the murder of one of its members, Richard Badombie on a major highway in the northern part of the country.
“We wish to assure the public that there is no upsurge in crime. The Service is on top of the security situation in the country,” the Police said in a statement Monday, May 31.
It continued: “We fight crime every day and treat each crime with the same urgency and same professional attitude and we regret the loss of life every day.”
The statement signed by Supt. Kwesi Ofori also outlined measures that had been taken since the incident of May 28th, among others an investigation and manhunt that has led to the arrest of three suspects.
The Police added that various strategic crime prevention and control interventions have been rolled out and special anti-robbery task forces have been deployed to areas identified as crime-prone.
They also highlighted the community policing programme, all of which the statement noted: “are among other policing interventions being implemented by the Service.”
“We, therefore urge the public, including special-interest groups, to be circumspect in their commentary on this matter and rather support the police to find a quick resolution to the case,” the statement added.
Lawyer Richard Badombie was shot and killed on the Bole-Bamboi Highway last Saturday whiles on his way to Jirapa.
Michael Badombie, a brother of the deceased told Joynews that they were travelling to Jirapa in the Upper West Region with some relatives on Saturday, 28 May 2022 when they spotted three men using a torch to signal them to stop.
He narrated that while approaching them his brother asked if they were police officers but he responded no but his brother slowed down.
He said just as Richard Badombie slowed down, one of the armed men shot and killed him causing their car to veer off the road.
“The blood of my brother was just gushing out and splashing on me in the car. We were four people in the car and the robbers came after us. They tried to open the car but they couldn’t.
“I just closed my eyes and pretended as though I was also dead,” he said.
“People started gathering around. When that happened, I got out of the car and interacted with them. They took us to the police station and later we came back for the body of my brother,” he narrated.
Meanwhile, three persons have been arrested by the Savannah Regional Patrol Team in connection with the murder of a lawyer on the Bole-Bamboi Road over the weekend.
The suspects who were arrested on Sunday, May 29, including a Benin and Mali national are currently in Police custody, assisting with investigations.
A police source said one of the suspects, whose name has been withheld, is a foreigner and a casual worker at the Bole Cocoa Research Centre.
Source: ghanaweb
