I have contact with criminal informants - Sacked CID boss

The former Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr

According to him, he has a network of informants which he uses to arrest criminals.

Bright Oduro has been relieved of his position.

In his stead, his Deputy Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah has been appointed to take charge of the Department with immediate effect.

Kennedy Agyapong, Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, has been waging a relentless campaign against COP Oduro for his alleged connection with land guards.

Mr Agyapong on Accra-based Oman FM lambasted the police chief over a case involving some policemen at Miotso, near Tema.

Speaking on the development, Bright Oduro said he was not given a fair hearing into the allegations leveled against him.

He said "My accusers don’t know me, they haven’t met me before and they don’t really know how I am. I will be the last person to shield a wrong doer and so why will someone say I am shielding criminals? What do I stand to gain from shielding criminals? For what? Does it make sense?

"I have a whole network of informants and I believe I am one of the officers in Ghana who has so many informants and so I am able to direct my officers to the specific hideouts of these criminals to be arrested."

In an interview on Accra FM, the suspended police chief said "Where do I get the information from? I get the information from the same criminals because the most reliable information comes from the one we normally refer to as criminal informant.

"If my contact with criminal informants is what is prompting assertions that I am shielding criminals, then that person making the allegation doesn’t know what he is talking about.

"If you are a CID detective you should have informants. Cultivating informant and using informant is one of the key issues every investigator must have, otherwise, you will be there as an investigator and won’t be able to do anything."

He added: "This is what I have done. Atta Ayi was arrested based on information we gathered from some of these criminals. But one must be cautious with the association with them because somebody will assume that you have something to do with those criminals."