4 Chinese Arrested, Property Destroyed Over Death Of Man, 29

Four Chinese have been arrested in connection with the alleged shooting and killing of a 29-year-old man over GH¢150 at “Shanghai city” in Amenfi East District of the Western Region.

They are Chu Chan Jun, 34; Li Ju, 33; Su Soglan, 46 and Jan Gi Hi, 49.

The killing of the man named Nana Buah resulted in the outbreak of violence in Wassa Akropong in the Amenfi East District.

According to sources, Buah accompanied a friend, who is a plumber to Shanghai City, to collect GHc150 as the balance for a job done, but, in the ensuing melee, Jan shot and killed Buah, also known as Scorpy.

The incident, according to Ghanaian Times sources, angered the youth of Wassa Akropong, who went on rampage and burnt vehicles and other properties belonging to the Chinese.

The youth stormed residence of the Chinese, near the Petrosol Filling station at Shanghai City and threatened to kill the Asians in retaliation.

For about three hours, the security made frantic efforts to calm the tempers of the angry youth.

The Ghanaian Times learnt that it took the intervention of the Omanhene of Wassa Akropong, Tetrete Okumoah Sekyim II, to calm tempers and brought the violence to an end.

The police and the military also intervened and conveyed some of the Chinese from the Petrosol Filling station to safety.

Later, on Saturday, the Western Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Kwesi Mensah Duku, led a team of security chiefs comprising 57 police officers and 30 military officers to maintain security and peace in the town.

Tetrete Okuamoah II, joined the Regional Commander to advise the rampaging youth to be law abiding and not to take the law into their own hands, assuring that the perpetrators would be dealt with in accordance with the law.

Throwing more light on the incident to the Ghanaian Times, the Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Olivia Ewurabena Adiku said, the four Chinese suspects had been sent to the Asankragua Division and placed in custody awaiting transfer to Sekondi Command, for further investigations.

She explained that at about 5.30 pm, on Friday, the Wassa Akropong Police received a distress call that a Chinese had shot a Ghanaian dead at Petrosol Filling Station.

She said that before the police moved to the filling Station the Akropong youth had rushed to the scene in an attempt to lynch any Chinese on sight.

The youth, the PRO said, destroyed properties, burnt vehicles and vandalised five others.

She said the Divisional Commander, the District Commander together with the Omanhene, Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II and his Council of elders, went to Wassa Akropong Government Hospital and saw the deceased, Nana Buah, in the mortuary.

ASP Duku said, investigators were waiting for the postmortem report.

The PRO assured that the police investigators were working hard to get full details of the violence at Akropong.

“Security is still firm on the ground and law abiding citizens are going about their normal duties without hindrance. There was an uneasy calm but the Police, Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Omanhene were able to bring the situation under control,” she said

Meanwhile, over 140 Chinese, who voluntarily opted to leave Wassa Akropong for Bogoso, Dunkwa-On-Offin and Kumasi, were provided a safe passage by the security services, ASP Adiku revealed.