Mob kills policeman at Tongo

Police Inspector George Musah, Officer in Charge of the Tongo Police Post, near Bolgatanga, was on Monday murdered in cold blood by a mob when he went to effect the arrest of a suspect involved in a sheep theft case.

The mob, in addition, bolted with the officers' service rifle and magazine containing 20 rounds of live ammunition.

The Upper East Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Thomas Agbanyo, told the Ghana News Agency that the deceased was accompanied by a junior officer to effect the arrest of the suspect, alleged to be a member of a sheep stealing syndicate at Yameriga, a village near Tongo, in the Bolgatanga District.

He said the police personnel escorted the first suspect, Naapa Suure, to the village where he identified a young man as one of the members of the syndicate.

However, in an attempt to arrest him, the youth from the village obstructed the police officer from carrying out his duty.

Inspector Agbanyo said the police officers decided to return to the office but the group ambushed and attacked them on the way and inflicted cutlass wounds on the forehead and temple of the deceased.

The PRO said the other policeman, who was not identified, escaped after sustaining several injuries while Suura, who was handcuffed, bolted.

Mr Agbanyo said the case was reported to the Bolgatanga District Police Headquarters and a team of personnel was dispatched to the village where they found Inspector Musah dead in a pool of blood.

The corpse has been conveyed to the War Memorial Hospital mortuary in Navrongo for autopsy.