General News of Sunday, 28 December 2008

Source: GNA

Ashanti Police arrest suspected ballot boxes snatchers

Asonomaso, (Ash), Dec. 28, GNA - The vigilance of the youth of Asonomaso in the Kwabre East Constituency of Ashanti, prevented the attempted snatching of ballot boxes at some polling stations in the town.

An eyewitness told the Ghana News Agency that four persons suspected to be members of ballot boxes snatching syndicate in a mini bus were arrested and handed over to the mobile police monitoring team, who whisked them away.

A police source at the Asonomaso Presby primary school polling station confirmed the incident and said the vigilance of the youth prevented any nasty incident at the station.

Meanwhile, there have been reports of several arrests by the police and other security agencies in several constituencies in the Ashanti region for alleged attempt to either snatch ballot boxes or disrupt the elections.

Superintendent Antwi Boasiako, Suame District Police commander, confirmed in an interview that about 12 persons suspected to have attempted to snatch ballot boxes are in police custody.

He said the police had also received several reports of arrest of suspected persons who are alleged to have caused electoral malpractices in the region.

In a related development, the NDC is said to be withdrawing its party agents from polling stations in the Ashanti region.

Mr Peter K Kusi, Presiding Officer for the Methodist primary school polling station at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Juaben constituency, confirmed to the Ghana News Agency that, a lady came to the station at around 1530 hours and asked the two NDC polling agents to vacate the place.

He said the lady did not give any reason for her action but insisted that the two should accompany her.