Peter Kobia, an unemployed man appeared before the Amanfro District Court on Thursday, November 23, 2023, and was charged with sand winning and building without a permit, and threat of death.

He was granted GH¢40,000 bail with three sureties and would appear again on Decem­ber 13, 2023.

Kobia was charged together with his uncle, David Kobia who is currently out of the country.

Prosecuting, Inspector Maxwell Kwakye of the Weija Police Office, said the accused held hostage the complainant, Thomas Yaw Dettoh, Head of the Physical Planning Department of the Ga South Municipal Assembly, and three colleagues when they visited a site at Donkonah-New Bortianor, on their routine inspection to stop illegal sand winning and building without permit at the site.

Insp. Kwakye told the court presided over by Emil­ia Abrokwah that when the complainant and his colleagues arrived at the site, they met a pill loader collecting sand and loading it into three tipper trucks.

The court heard that Mr. Det­toh saw carpenters working on an uncompleted building without a permit at the site.

The policeman said the com­plainant asked the accused to stop working on the site because they had no permit to build and engage in sand winning.

Insp. Kwakye said Peter­ Kobia, who was on the site obstructed Mr. Dettoh and his colleagues from performing their lawful duty and held them hostage for 30 minutes by closing the gate before he freed them.

He said the complainant later reported the case to the Crimi­nal Investigations Department, Weija Divisional Police Station, adding that the complainant and the police went to the site and arrested the accused together with the three tipper trucks loaded with sand with registra­tion numbers: GE 6095-23, GT 3992-23 and GN 5367-22.