A man described by police as a notorious landguard who is allegedly linked to the assassination of the Manklalo of the Prampram Traditional Area, Nene Atsure Benta III almost a year ago is in the grips of the law enforcement officers.
The man, Nii Narh, aka Yellow was ferreted out from his hideout at Kyekyewere village near Zion Camp in the Central Region.
The Dunkwa-On-Offin Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr Innocent Avevor who confirmed the arrest to the Chronicle stated that suspect had since been handed over to the Tema Regional Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to continue with enquiry into the case.
Nene Atsure Benta III was assassinated on Thursday 13th December 2018 whilst driving his car on the road between Appolonia and Afienya in the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region.
According to ACP, Mr Avevor, the operation to smoke out Yellow was as a result of intelligence dispatched to the division from the police headquarters in Accra.
He went on that the suspect who was seeking ‘devine fortification’ from one of the four Zions in the general area suddenly abandoned his fugitive status and adopted a lifestyle which takes him roaming the narcotic ghettos and drinking spots.
The Divisional Police boss stated that the exercise to nab Yellow was accomplished by three hardworking detectives who used only few days to locate him due to the places he frequented.
He went on that on a scheduled day for the onslaught, as though it was an intervention from the heavens, electricity supply in Zion went off temporary and therefore endangered the lives of the operatives.
Since Yellow was scheduled to visit a particular drinking spot, the detectives laid ambush in a makeshift structure of a beer bar overnight and their effort was finally rewarded.
Early in the morning, a man who per his description went for Yellow appeared at the spot but the owner was yet to open for the day’s work.
Anxious Yellow made phone call to a biker who arrived in no time to pick him to his village hideout.
So as not to incur any hostility from people around, the plainclothes policemen trailed the bike from a distance and accosted him at his supposed fortress.
ACP, Mr Avevor went on that a team in a standby vehicle moved to the jurisdiction, took custody of the suspected fugitive who was later sent to Tema for investigation to continue into the murder of the chief.
An official police source in Tema confirmed to this reporter that Yellow had since been in their custody pending further interrogation
From the police headquarters, the paper gathered that Yellow who is alleged to have taken part in a number of cases and therefore placed on its radar relocated to the Zions enclave about six months ago.
The information had it that Yellow was alleged to be in the habit of issuing threats of death, reportedly citing their assassination of the Prampram Manklalo, as a sign of bravery, at the slightest provocation.
Reports of him got to the police headquarters resulting in the dispatch of undercover detectives who posed as farmers in search of land to cultivate commercial crops, hence his cover was blown.
Nene Atsure Benta III, then the Acting President of the Prampram Traditional Council was on the 12th of December 2018 supposedly destooled by his clan kingmaker
In the night of the said date, a number of armed persons invaded the coastal town of Prampram which hosted the first police station in Ghana and terrorized the residents including some fetish priestesses and the clan’s kingmaker, the latter who was forcibly compelled to reverse his decision of destoolment.
The following day, 13th December 2018, the Manklalo attended a meeting at the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs in Dodowa but was said to have left unceremoniously.
At the same time, the group which purported to have destooled him was addressing a press conference at the Don Bosco Technical Institute near Afariwa Junction on the previous day’s incident.
Journalists present reached the Manklalo on phone for his side of the story but he asked them to meet him in Prampram for the needed clarification
Few minutes later, he was reported to have been shot dead by unknown occupants of van as he drove on the Appolonia-Afienya stretch.
Incidentally, exactly a month later, 13th January 2019, the Marketing and Public Affairs Manager of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Tema, Mrs Josephine Tandoh Asante was found murdered in her Emefs Hillview Estates residence, near Afienya.
Three days on, 16th January 2019, undercover journalist, Ahmed Suale of Tiger Eye PI fame was shot and killed by gunmen on motorbike in Madina, a suburb of Accra. Stay tuned.
Source: The Chronicle
