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A lower court in Kumasi has refused bail for three persons accused of being part of a 12-man gang that shot and killed one person at the Ashanti regional office of the National Democratic Congress.

Legal counsel for the three had submitted to the Asokwa District Court to bail the suspects who have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, arguing they showed good faith by turning themselves in to the police after being declared wanted.

But police prosecutor, ACP Okyere Darko, objected to the bail request, claiming a bail for the three will frustrate efforts to arrest the prime suspect in the murder case, Bari Mohammed, our correspondent Ibrahim Abubakar reported.

Police have identified Mohammed as the actual killer in the shooting case and one of the nine other suspects who were declared wanted by the Police and yet to be arrested. Dauda Ibrahim, Agyin Samuel and Abdul Ganiyu, were arrested after they turned themselves in to the police on Thursday, February 28.

They made their first court appearance Monday, March 4.

Friends and relatives of the deceased, Wasiu Iddrisu, thronged the court premises to observe proceedings and also called for justice to be served.

‘For your own safety’

Judge Mohammed Abass denied the application, stating it was for “their own safety”. He has remanded them into police custody until March 14.

Evans Amankwah, who represented the three in court on Monday, said though they were unhappy with the decision, they have no option than to comply with it.

“We are not satisfied with it but we can’t begrudge the court. We are of the opinion that somebody who has shown such a good faith by tendering themselves in to the police…the court should have returned that gesture by admitting them to bail,” Mr Amankwah told 3news.com.

He added that if the three persons were minded to interfere in investigations as claimed by the prosecutors, “they wouldn’t have turned themselves in”.

“This is something that has happened and nobody is happy with that but the people that have been arrested, if you read the facts, they have no connection whatsoever to the offence that was committed,” he told our correspondent.

On Monday, February 18, some persons identified to be members of political militia, the Hawks, shot and killed one Wasiu Iddrisu and injured Abdul Rahman at the NDC regional office at Amakom.

In all, the police declared 12 persons wanted but only three have so far turned themselves in.

Meanwhile, the police are calling on the public to volunteer information that will lead to the arrest of the remaining nine suspects.