One Abeku Adams Ekumfi on Facebook has shared the story of how his friend was forced to give ₵1000 to members of Operation Calm Life while on his way home.
In descriptions similar to the rogue SARS police unit in Nigeria, the friend stated that his car was pulled over by heavily armed police personnel operating under the Operation Calm life programme in a secluded area under the pretense of carrying out a search.
According to the friend who is said to be a fish merchant, one of the policemen scanned through his phone messages till he chanced on a chat he was having with a white client.
They then accused him of engaging in cybercrime.
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Posted by Golda Naa Adaku Addo on Saturday, January 23, 2021
He explained to the policeman that the white person was only a client who buys fish from him and nothing more.
The adamant police man, only identified as Mawutor, realizing his prey was cornered, asked him to pay ₵2000 before he will be allowed to go home.
After a long negotiation, they settled on ₵1000 which the fish merchant had to pay via momo because he did not have cash on him.
They then deleted the receipt of the transaction from his phone and asked him to go.
“Abeku, I know my rights were heavily infringed on but due to the lapses in law enforcement and legal systems I knew that I could easily suffer for something that I am innocent about.
“Best case scenario I could have spent two nights in police custody (due to the weekend) and get released on Monday and the case will be brushed off as a foolish case,” he bemoaned in his message to his friend.
This incident adds to increasing cases of unwarranted illegal police searches on Ghana’s roads.
Recently, Citi FM journalist, Umaru Sanda was stopped, illegally searched and harassed by police personnel who claimed they were looking for hard drugs and weapons in his car.