DAILY GUIDE has gathered that one person sustained gunshot wounds when some military officers fired several warning shots following a confrontation between residents of Asenso in the Wassa Amenfi East District of the Western Region and workers of a Chinese miner Wednesday.
The victim, Yaw Nkrumah, 32, was reported to have been hit in the ankle when the soldiers fired the warning shots to disperse residents who were engaged in a confrontation with workers of the Chinese miner.
Six others were also detained by the Sefwi-Bekwai police in connection with the fracas. They included Yaw Gyamfi, 30; Moses Yamba, 30; Solomon Antwi, 25; Essifu Enusah, 30 and Kofi Antwi, 31.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the youth in the town had demanded that a Chinese miner pay some money to be used for bridge maintenance during the transportation of an excavator.
According to sources, the bridge was constructed by the people in the community through communal labour.
It was alleged that workers of the Chinese miner who were angered by the request of the youth who had mounted a barricade, decided to fire warning shots to disperse them (youth).
However, the youth reportedly managed to accost some of the workers and seized a pump action gun which they later handed over to the elders of the community.
Some military officers later arrived at the scene allegedly at the invitation of the miners, began firing warning shots and a bullet was said to have hit the ankle of the victim.
The victim was rushed to the Dunkwa Government Hospital for treatment.
Confirming the story to DAILY GUIDE, ASP Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, said on Wednesday, June 28, 2017, at about 2pm, the police at Sefwi Bekwai were informed about the incident.
She pointed out that two military men were escorting an excavator on a low bed to a miming site at Wassa Asenso in the Wassa Amenfi District when the incident occurred.
She indicated that a security man of the company, Adamu Yakubu, aged 39, fired three warning shots from a pump action gun he was holding.
This infuriated the community men who beat him up and took away the gun.
The police PRO continued that re-enforcement of six military men from Diaso went to Asenso to normalize the situation but the community refused to give up.
“Warning shots were fired by the military men and a pellet which is believed to ricochet from the ground hit the foot of Yaw Nkrumah,” she added.
She revealed that later Captain Isaac Akyena, in-charge of the military detachment at Diaso, with six of his men, arrested and brought to Sefwi Bekwai six suspects as being among the group that attacked and took away the pump action gun. They were detained for investigation.
According to ASP Ewurabena Adiku, later, Abusuapanin Kwabena Asante of Wassa Asenso sent the pump action gun to the police. He explained that the youth alleged that the security man was firing indiscriminately and therefore they took the weapon away from him.
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