Two students grabbed with ammunition

THE police have established that 82 packets containing 820 rounds of live ammunition found on two students of Adisadel College at a hotel at Sunyani last Wednesday are part of a huge quantity of ammunition stolen from the Central Regional Police armoury on June 26 this year.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Alex Yartey Tawiah, disclosed this at a community tribunal at Sunyani yesterday when the students, Donald Abili, 19, and Kwaw Afebi Yanney, appeared before the tribunal. they have been charged with possessing ammunition without authority.

Their pleas were not taken and the tribunal, chaired by Mr C.A. Wilson, remanded them in prison custody to reappear on July 13.

The students, both in the final year, were arrested by the police at the Providence Lodge, a hotel at Sunyani, last Wednesday night with the ammunition. Two accomplices, John Aboagye Gyimah and Selikem Ahiadzro, managed to escape.

Prosecuting, ASP Yartey Tawiah, said on July 4, this year, the police at Sunyani had a tip-off that four boys with suspicious behaviour were lodging at the hotel.

He said at about 11:45 p.m. the police went to the hotel and arrested Abili and Yanney but the two others managed to escape.

He said when they were arrested, they could not tell their source of supply but they later mentioned Aboagye and Selikem as owners of the ammunition.

Meanwhile the authorities of Adisadel College, Cape Coast, have confirmed that all the four students involved in the case are final year students of the college reports Janet Quainoo.

Two of them have had brushes with the school’s regulations and are therefore under bond to be of good behaviour.

The Assistant Headmaster (Administration) of the College, Mr Kwadwo Asiedu-Gyimah, told the Graphic that Yanney, 18 years; is a Science student , Abili aged 19, is a General Arts student; Aboagye Gyimah, also 19, is a scienc

Kwadwo Asiedu-Gyimah, told the Graphic that Yanney, 18 years, is a Science student , Abili aged 19, is a General Arts student; Aboagye Gyimah, also 19, is a science student whilst 19-year-old Ahiadzro is a business student.

Mr Asiedu-Gyimah said Donald and Kwaw, who were arrested at the hotel in Sunyani for illegally possessing the 820 rounds of thunder-shots, a sophisticated ammunition used by the military, are already under bond for going out of school without permission.

He said Selikem was last month referred to the school’s counsellors for counselling for absenting himself from classes but John has no record of breaking bounds against him.

Mr Asiedu-Gyimah said Yanney and Abili face the possibility of dismissal from the school for breaking their bonds.

According to Mr Asiedu-Gyimah, although the school’s code of discipline stipulates dismissal for breaking a bond, the two would still have to face a disciplinary committee, which would determine their fate.

Mr Asiedu-Gyimah said should they be dismissed from the school, they will not be allowed to sit the SSSCE because according to the school’s rules, dismissed students cannot write the SSSCE in the school or on the ticket of the school.

He said their absence was detected during a roll-call on Thursday morning and the school authorities were meeting on them, when they heard the news on the air.

The assistant headmaster said a second roll-call was held in the afternoon, when it was again confirmed that they were not in school. A report was then duly lodged with the Regional Education Office.

When the Graphic got to the school around 12 noon, the dormitories were being searched after another roll-call.

Mr Asiedu-Gyimah described the case as unfortunate but assured the general public, particularly parents, that the ‘school is on its toes 24hours a day to ensure safety’.

Visibly shaken, Selikem’s mother, who had travelled from Accra to the School to check on the story, visibly, attributed her boy’s behaviour to peer pressure.

The mother, who did not want her name mentioned, said her boy, who lives with his father, had no reason to do what he did, as she has never denied him anything.

She pleaded with the assistant headmaster to allow the boys to write their examinations as their future is at stake.

When this reporter introduced herself to her, she said ‘could you please publish and let him know that mum still loves him, so he should come home or to school and not do anything silly”.

The Deputy Regional Police Commander, Mr Patrick Kwabena Ampewuah, when contacted about the break into the police armoury at Cape Coast, could neither deny nor confirm the incident.

He said personnel from the CID had been dispatched to Sunyani that morning to assist the Sunyani police in the investigations and urged the reporter to come for the feedback on Monday.