Wee Smokers Die In Dam

Two bodies were found floating in the McLane Irrigation dam at Bukare in the Bolgatanga Municipality on Sunday October 23, 2011.

This comes just a day after police in Bolgatanga had gone to the banks of the irrigation dam on an operation to arrest people who smoked or sold Indian hemp there.

The two were identified as Guy Akologo, 41, a father of three, and Asampana Amame, 38.

They were reported to have jumped into the irrigation dam with six others, in an attempt to escape police arrest.

The bodies have since been deposited at the Navrongo War Memorial Hospital Mortuary, since the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital Mortuary was full at the time of filing this report.

Over the weekend, police in Bolgatanga embarked on an operation to clamp down on Indian hemp smokers and sellers in various hideouts in Zuarungu, Tansui, Tindongmolgor and the bank of the McLane Irrigation Dam at Bukare.

A total of 17 persons suspected to be ‘wee’ smokers, as well as others suspected to be ‘wee’ sellers, were arrested in the operation. Nine out of the 17 were arrested from the McLane Irrigation Dam bank.

The Upper East Regional Police Commander, ACP Bright Oduro, in a telephone interview with DAILY GUIDE, said the operation was necessitated by the need to curb the increasing reports of theft and other criminal activities in the municipality, with victims linking the crimes to persons believed to be on drugs.

According to him, his men could not be blamed for the death of the two ‘wee’ smokers, stressing that even when some of the ‘wee’ smokers at the McLane Dam bank jumped into the dam upon seeing the police, some of his men followed up and saved six of them, who were currently in police custody together with three others who were arrested at the bank of the dam. Contrary to allegations by friends of the deceased persons that the police shot the deceased and pushed them into the water, the Police Commander said checks on the dead bodies did not reveal any gunshot wounds.

ACP Bright Oduro noted that the police would continue the exercise frequently to apprehend ‘wee’ smokers and criminals in the municipality and ensure that they were prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others in the area.

“Police will not allow a few people to take their drugs and make decent and hardworking residents uncomfortable. We will repeat this operation from time to time and we will arrest whoever we see at a ‘wee’ base. So if you know you are not a ‘wee’ smoker or seller, don’t get there. If you are innocent and yet you are arrested there, you will have to prove your innocence in court,” ACP Oduro advised.

Police would conduct an identification parade for victims of the various crimes to identify the perpetrators.