POLICE ARREST COUP PLOTTERS

From David Allan Paintsil, Cape Coast

Two Ivorians and their Ghanaian collaborator, suspected to be plotting a coup to overthrow President Alassane Dramane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, were busted by the Central Regional Police Command in Cape Coast last Friday.

The names of the two Ivorians have been withheld by the police for security reasons, as investigations are still ongoing. But the police gave the name of their Ghanaian collaborator, as Nana Emisa Imbrah, who is 73 years old and hails from Cape Coast.

Briefing the press on Monday, the Central Regional Police Commander, DCOP Stephen Andoh-Kwofie, said the police had information that two Ivorians and Ghanaian held several meetings in Cape Coast to procure arms and ammunitions from Ghana to destabilise President Ouattara’s government.

DCOP Andoh-Kwofie went on to say that at the meetings it was agreed by the suspected coup plotters to meet the suppliers of the arms and ammunitions for negotiations, in which a list of arms and ammunitions were put out as requested for by the Ivorians.

According to the Regional Police Commander, his men monitored the unfolding event, and on 14 September, at about 5:00 p.m., a team of six police personnel, led by ASP Emmanuel Tetteh, to a meeting place at a hotel in Cape Coast.

In the process, he said the two Ivorians went to the hotel at 7:20 p.m. to meet the suppliers who they did not know they were policemen, with five AK 47 assault rifles and a box containing 1,400 cartridges, as well as 7.2 ammunitions as samples.

DCOP Andoh Kwofie continued that after a long deliberation over the prices with the suppliers, the two Ivorians requested to inspect the samples of the contra-band goods which were stocked in a vehicle, and were arrested during the inspection.

During the police interrogation, DCOP Andoh Kwofie disclosed, the Ivorians mentioned Nana Imbrah’s name as their contact man, who had lived in Ivory Coast since 1986, and only returned to Ghana about two years ago.

He further told the press that one of the Ivorian suspects, who is 27 years-old, was a former Sergeant in the Ivorian army and fled to Ghana during the civil war, while the other, who is 40 years, was a cook and a politician belonging to the Ivorian party that is against French domination of their country. He said, the two had never been to any of the refugee camps harbouring Ivorian refugees in Ghana.

The Central Regional Police boss added that Nana Imbrah told them that he was an ex-Merchant Navy Captain of the defunct Black Star Line, and had lived in Ivory Coast from 1986 to 2010, saying the police would investigate the claim made by the Ghanaian to ascertain the truth.

 

Short URL: http://thechronicle.com.gh/?p=47455