Officer dies after drinking herbal medicine

Bolgatanga, Feb. 16, GNA - The police at Bolgatanga are questioning a 31-year-old Niger national, Mallam Alhassan, over the death of the Upper East Regional Information Officer, Mr Moses Yinye, on Friday, February 13.

On the previous day, February 12, the late Mr Yinye reportedly drank some herbal preparation sold to him by Mallam Alhassan purportedly for the cure of piles.

"After taking the concoction, the deceased had diarrhoea throughout the night and was rushed to the Bolgatanga General Hospital on Friday morning where he died shortly afterwards," Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patrick Akagbo, Municipal Crime Officer, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Monday.

DSP Akagbo stated that on Friday afternoon, ignorant about the death of his customer, Mallam Alhassan went back to the offices of the Information Services Department in Bolgatanga with the aim of inquiring from the deceased about the performance of his concoction. The office staff escorted the herbalist to the police station where he learnt for the first time that Mr Yinye was dead.

The Crime Officer indicated that following the death of the Information Officer, a storekeeper in the same department as the deceased, who had also bought the herbal preparation for his wife, disclosed that after taking the concoction his wife too had been seized by severe diarrhoea but that she had been given some palm oil to drink as first aid, before being rushed to the hospital where she was currently receiving treatment.

A post-mortem examination conducted on the body of Mr Yinye at the Bolgatanga hospital, cited liver failure as the cause of death. Meanwhile, Mallam Alhassan is being interrogated by the police about his herbal preparations and the circumstances surrounding the death of the Information Officer.

DSP Akagbo told the GNA that the next line of action would be determined by the advice the police would receive from the Attorney-General's office.