THE BRONG Ahafo Regional Police Command has intercepted a number of student mattresses, numbering about 150, believed to have been stolen by some delegates who attended the just-ended national delegates conference of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Tamale.
The joint exercise was undertaken by the police and officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) at Kintampo on Sunday upon a tip-off, as the delegates returned from the congress grounds to their various destinations in the southern parts of the country.
Officials said the joint operation was very successful as over 150 mattresses were retrieved from more than 15 buses which were searched at special check-points at Kintampo and Techiman, purposely mounted by the police to reclaim the missing mattresses suspected to have been stolen by the returnee delegates.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander, DCOP Seth Charles Oteng, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said he received a telephone call from the Regional Coordinator of NADMO about the buses which were loaded with the mattresses from Tamale.
He said his men, in collaboration with NADMO officials, quickly moved to block the main Tamale-Kintampo highway and in the process managed to intercept the stolen mattresses.
DAILY GUIDE’s investigations established that the delegates involved in the stolen mattresses where maltreated by their party leadership, after they were denied the money they had been promised in connection with the elections.
According to our investigations, the delegates allegedly carried the mattresses away in protest at the failed promises by their party officials, with the intention of selling them to gain what their leadership failed to provide them.
Our checks have indicated that the organisers of the NDC national congress hired the stolen mattresses from the Tamale NADMO office to accommodate the delegates.
When DAILY GUIDE visited Kintampo on Tuesday, officials of NADMO were seen busily parking the intercepted mattresses into an Information Service Department van from the Female Cells of the District Police Station where they were kept, to the official residence of the Kintampo North Municipal Chief Executive.
When contacted, the Kintampo Municipal Police Commander, DSP Owusu Boampong, told DAILY GUIDE that he only received directives from the Regional Commander on Sunday to find a safe place to keep the seized items.
He however failed to give details of how the operation was carried out, directing DAILY GUIDE to the Regional Commander for any clarification.