Guns, bullets seized…At Akyem Oda

A dawn swoop carried out last Tuesday by a combined team of police and soldiers of the Jungle War School (JWS) at Akyease, Eastern Region, on the palace of the paramount Chief of Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, Oseadeayo Nana Frimpong-Manso, and the abode of the rival claimant to the stool, the Attafuah family, has resulted in the seizure of a cache of arms and ammunitions.

The military/police team deployed from Ahiase, New Abirem, Ofoase, Akwatia, Akyem Swedru, Asamankese and Kade carried out the swoop in Akyem Oda at around 4 a.m. They were acting upon a tip-off that some unscrupulous persons in the town had in their possession guns and ammunition they intended to allegedly use to settle scores in the protracted chieftaincy dispute in the area.

Eight (8) AK47 rifles, one box of DB (database bullet) and a black polythene bag containing Indian hemp (marijuana) were found concealed under beds in the ransacked rooms of the palace of the Attafuah faction.

One Kwasi Owusu, 41, from the Attafuah faction, was arrested and is helping the Eastern regional police command in its investigations, whiles a suspected accomplice, Mr. Kwame Atiadjei, is believed to be on the run.

In a briefing, the Akyem Oda Divisional Police Commander, DSP Wisdom Akorli, confirmed to Today that his outfit had information that some aggrieved people within the Akyem Kotoku Traditional area including Obaapanin Komfo and Kwame Atiadjei, had in their possession guns and offensive weapons they intended to use in terrorizing persons from the opposing faction.

He confirmed the use of the firearms during the bloody chieftaincy clashes in the mining community on Saturday, May 26, 2012, during which some inhabitants were brutalized and shot at by unknown armed thugs.

He told media personnel that the Queen Mother of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, Nana Akua Asantewa, was on Sunday May 27, 2012 attacked and brutalised by some of these thugs at her residence in Akyem Oda. The brutality was allegedly carried out on the orders of Oseadeayo Nana Frimpong-Manso, he stated.

These happenings, the police chief posited, were posing a security threat to the people in the area hence the swoop to find and impound the firearms.

On the morning of the swoop, Mr. Akorli deployed the combined team of Military and police officers in the region to embark on a massive room-to-room search in both palaces.

“It was upon reaching Attafuah Stool Palace at Akyem Oda, that the guns, ammunitions and Indian hemp were found,” he disclosed.

The Akyem Oda Divisional Police Commander told Today that his outfit has began investigations to get to the root of the matter, adding that, he was not going to give further details until investigations were completed.

It would be recalled that Today, in its Tuesday June 7, 2012 edition, reported a bloodbath in the Akyem Kotoku Traditional area where many people had been brutalized with three people including a police officer, were shot by an armed faction from Attafuah family, the rival claimant to the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Stool.**