A military officer is in the grip of the police for allegedly supplying military uniforms to land guards which they use to terrorise residents of La, in Accra.
Lance Corporal Humphrey Tetteh, 32, a soldier attached to the 66 Artillery Regiment, Ho, in the Volta Region, is said to have attempted to escape when he was arrested with three of his civilian accomplices.
He was rearrested after he had taken to his heels and given a hot chase by some policemen at the Accra Regional Police Command.
Civilians in military uniform
Two of the land guards whom he had given the military uniforms to were identified as Isaac Quaye, 30, an artist, and Ernest Odartey Quaye, an apprentice artist at La. The third person who was not in a military uniform at the time of the arrest but described himself as a land guard was identified as Oko Mensah, 32, a mason.
Lance Corporal Tetteh is said to have given his uniforms to two of the land guards to harass a woman, Rita Mahama, who was claiming ownership of a parcel of land which was also being claimed by Lance Corporal Tetteh.
Distress calls
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Accra Regional Police Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Paul Kontoma, said a team of policemen arrested Lance Corporal Tetteh and the three others following distress calls from some residents of La on May 13, 2015.
He said Lance Corporal Tetteh was engaged in a dispute with Rita over the parcel of land and the two had been warned by the police to stay off the land while investigations continued.
However, on May 13, 2015, Lance Corporal Tetteh supplied uniforms to the civilians who impersonated as military men and terrorised people on the disputed land at La.
He said some residents in the area called the police who proceeded to the location and arrested the suspects.
"While the suspects were being interrogated by the Head of the Accra Regional Criminal Investigations Department Intelligence and Monitoring Unit, Lance Corporal Tetteh suddenly took to his heels but was pursued and recaptured."
Mr Kontoma said the two civilians who were in the military uniform had been charged with possessing military accoutrements without authority, while Lance Corporal Tetteh had been charged with abetment of crime.
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