Some youth of Appolonia in the company of a team of some police personnel purported to be from the Accra Regional Police Command in a gang-style raided an eatery at Appolonia on Thursday morning, 15th June in an attempt to enforce an alleged court order.
The police, numbering about 10, who refused to speak to the media, drove in two police branded vehicles with registration numbers GP 4801 and GP 3064 with ‘Police Regional Patrol’ emblazoned on them.
The team claimed to have in their possession some court orders from the Accra High Court.
As of the time media personnel arrived at the scene, the eatery, ‘Good Regimensah Special Food Joint’, had its premises under lock with chains and huge padlocks; while it had its chairs, tables, refrigerators, cooked food among other things packed outside.
According to the proprietress of the facility, Regina Blay, she was getting ready to begin her daily business when she saw some youth of Appolonia in the company of some clothed police personnel wielding guns enter her premises.
“When I saw them enter, I enquired from them what exactly was the problem and they told me they have a court order to take possession of the entire area. I demanded for the order notice and police personnel among the team told me to shut up and park my things out of the place.
“I pressed on them to show me the court order and notice but I was heckled by the police and some of the Appolonia youth. I was tied down while they packed all my foodstuffs and items from the building and later locked it with a padlock as they threw me and my staff outside. They then wrote with a spray paint on the walls ‘Court Order and Possession Taken’ and left a telephone number under the writing. The number who happens to be the spokesperson of the Disputed Chief, when contacted noted that the team was only in to give notice but not to lock up buildings and, thus, apologised and asked me to proceed to do my business.”
Madam Blay continued, “Having gotten assurance from the Spokesperson of the Disputed Appolonia Chief, I then went ahead to break the padlock to resume business.”
Madam Blay told the media that during the ‘action movie’ staged by the police and the youth of Appolonia at her premises, the team made away with some food items and an amount of about Ghc12,000 I had kept in the building.
The police and the youth then proceeded to write on several buildings in the area.
Some residents who demanded for a copy of the order were heckled and their buildings defaced with the can paints.
When the Police and the team which included two bailiffs from the High court, were approached by the media to enquire for the reason behind their operation, they failed to respond to the questions.
Meanwhile, the Spokesperson for the Disputed Appolonia Chief, Noglich Tetteh, who spoke to the media in a telephone interview, said the action was only to serve notice to residents within the catchment area of the court order and not to lock any property.
He, thus, condemned the action by the youth and the police and promised to call them to order and also caution them against harassing residents and business owners.
Madam Blay is currently in the custody of the Accra Central Police Command for allegedly opening her place to operate, which the police said she had no right to do so until further notice.