Earlier reports pegged the number of arrested residents at 72, but in a statement released and signed by Brigadier General E. Aggrey-Quarshie, Director of General Public Relations of GAF, it said the number is higher.
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We have 184 Ashaiman residents in our custody – Ghana Armed Forces after invasion, brutality
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has disclosed that no fewer than 184 residents of Ashaiman are currently in its custody after personnel invaded the municipality on Tuesday, March 7, and arrested and brutalized innocent people.
Soldiers arrest 72 Ashaiman residents over colleague’s death, MP cries for help
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The statement added that the widely-condemned military operation was an intelligence-led one sanctioned by the Military High Command.
“GAF wishes to state categorically that the military operation, which was sanctioned by the Military High Command, was NOT to avenge the killing of the soldier but rather to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime,” GAF said in its statement.
Soldiers invaded the homes of the residents of Ashaiman on Tuesday at a time of a nationwide heavy downpour that left some parts of Accra flooded with some lives lost to the flood.
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With military helicopters flying over the area in question, soldiers inflicted bloody assaults on the residents in the name of searching for the murderers of a young military officer, Trooper Imoro Sherrif, who was allegedly stabbed in the town on Saturday, March 4, 2023.
“GAF however acknowledges that regrettably some innocent persons might have been caught up in the operation and consequently suffered some distress due to the location they found themselves at the time.
“During the course of the swoop, the personnel seized 29 slabs and 57 mini slabs of suspected Indian hemp and amnesia among other forms of the narcotics.
“The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) also wishes to place on record that the swoop was not targeted at innocent civilians but was an intelligence–led operation conducted on suspected hideouts of criminals and crime-prone areas in the general area,” the statement said.
The development has sparked reactions with analysts condemning the operation, saying while the killing of the soldier is barbaric, only the police have the legal mandate to conduct such exercises and not the military.
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