VR: Driver transporting “Wee” accuses Police of Extortion

A driver of an Opel Long boot commercial vehicle plying between Kpando and Hohoe in the Volta Region has narrated how police in Anfoe has bitterly extorted money from him while he was on his way to seek his daily bread for his family. He was caught with 4 big bags of a substance suspected to be Indian Hemp also known as “Wee” which he was transporting from Kpando to Tshorhenu. He was accosted by some gentlemen in plain cloth who did not even identify themselves as police officers but demanded that he follows them to the police station, which he did.

Narrating his ordeal to ghananewsonline.com.gh in a telephone interview, Confidence Akpaglo, said the incident happened on Monday December 5, 2022 at about 4pm.

He said he is a commercial driver who loads from Kpando to Hohoe in the Volta Region on daily basis. He said on the said day, he was called at the station on scale in the afternoon at Hohoe and booked to go and carry a load of sacks that contains maize.

He went with the owner of the loads to his house where they were joined by some others to pack the loaded sacks into the booth of his car – a green opel long booth vehicle with registration number AS 3867 V. Upon getting to Vakpo between 3pm and 4pm, he and the owner of the goods were approached by three gentlemen in plain clothe whom he later got to know as Detective Inspector Thompson Donkor, Detective Sargent Adorvlo, and  Constable Simon Gbugborte. They crossed them with their vehicle causing them to stop abruptly.

They were not in uniforms, neither did they display any Card identifying them as police officers. The guys told them they were under arrest and immediately the owner of the load jumped into the bush and sped off.

The officers told him they had a tip-off that a there was a car carrying India Hemp and they fit the description of the car given. They then demanded that he pays them Ghc20, 000 but he told them he could not afford that amount on the spot.

The officers then lead him to their station and without causing him to write down any statement, they impounded the car and asked him to go and look for the money before coming back for his car and the loads.

Akpaglo said he could not return the same day because it was late, so he went back the next day. When he got back to the station in the company of his brother and an amount of Ghc9,000, the officers refused to accept the money. They told him that they have already sold the loads to someone else – someone they claimed he knows so well. He later saw that they had packed his car at the back of the station as if they were hiding it.

He said as they were leaving the station, Detective Thompson Donkor called him back and ask him whether he knew the value of the goods he was carrying in the car before bringing them Ghc9000 and that they would not give it back to him since they have even sold the loads already.

He said he told him he was coming for his car and not the loads because he is just a commercial driver. The police then asked him to pay an amount of Ghc2,500 if he want his car released to hi.

“Detective Thompson Donkor told me he is the commander and that he has been there for over 16 to 20 years and that no one can transfer him or arrest him because he is the boss in that center. He said even if I report him to any police headquarters nothing will happen to him,” he narrated.

Confidence Akpaglo further said that he has gathered from some of his friends that this same Detective Thompson Donkor has been demanding money from the Indian Hemp farmers in the area as bribe so they would not be arrested, especially during this Christmas season.

The driver is therefore pleading with the entire police services in Ghana to support him to get his car back and also put a stop to this act of intimidation, extortion and harassment which has contributed to the youth not showing respect to the police in the country.

“I am begging the IGP to come on board and help track down all those Officers because the name of the police service has been tarnished for long and it continuous to go down because of these kind of acts,” he stated.