The Police administration has denied reports that the three missing Takoradi girls have been rescued.
On Wednesday, the Daily Guide Newspaper reported that the girls had been found and were receiving medical treatment at an unnamed health facility in Accra.
The report attributed its story to sources whom, according to them, indicated that the girls have been brought to Accra on Tuesday.
But the police say the report is false.
In a statement on its official Facebook page, the Service said “the attention of the Police Administration has been drawn to a report in the Daily Guide edition of Wednesday, April 24, 2019, titled ‘T’di Girls Rescued’ and wish to state that the report is false.”
This denial will deal a hefty blow on expectant parents who have waited for months, to receive some good news from the Police.
Early April, the Police CID boss at a press conference disclosed that it has discovered the whereabouts of the girls and were putting measures in place to hand them to their families.
“We know where the girls are,” DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah told reporters.
While confident of wrapping up the saga, the CID boss urged patience and assured the public “they are safe…very soon they will be brought back home”.
Then, families of the missing girls questioned why the police failed to disclose the information to them before going public.
Rebecca Quayson, a sister to one of the missing girls, Ruth Love Quayson said no official from the Service had given them any information about the progress of the investigation.
She said the families have been kept in the dark when it should be the other way round and she fears the police are just being untruthful.
“It is like they are playing with us. All this while, I was thinking they truly had the girls in their custody but knowing that they truly don’t have them is something else.
“Madam Tiwaa held a press conference, so was all that talk a lie, I don’t understand,” the distressed sister queried.
But the police in their press statement again, assured the families and the public that “we are working tirelessly with partner agencies to rescue the kidnapped girls.”
They add in the statement that liaison officers in Takoradi have been assigned to coordinate information between the police and families of the kidnapped girls and encourage family leadership to cooperate with the assigned officers.
“Journalists, Publishers, Editors and Producers are hereby reminded to desist from publishing news without verification from authorized Police sources.”
Police Public Affairs Director, DSP Shiela Buckman in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story encouraged journalists to desist from publishing news without verifying from the Service.
She said the police found it necessary to address the issue because it was an important one and that although “the girls are yet to be rescued,” they are working with other agencies to release the girls.
“We are always available to deny or confirm reports,” she said, urging journalist to come to them before publishing new items concerning the Service.