Explosives Planted On Land

…Mrs. Djentuh, one other person invited by police
Mrs. Maria O'Sullivan Djentuh, the mother of Selassie Djentuh, the gentleman who was given what was described as an 'identification haircut' carried out under the regime of Ex-President J. J. Rawlings, has been invited by the police to answer queries on the planting of highly dangerous explosives on a disputed land at Community 18 in Tema.

According to sources, the explosives that were discovered on the tract of land that had been a subject of litigation between Mrs. O'Sullivan Djentuh, (the owner of O'Sullivan Estates Limited) and several other parties, are known in security realms as detonators; an explosive which is said to be more dangerous than dynamite and used for blasting mines.

The Police told The Chronicle in an interview that they had to fall on high-powered experts from the Ghana Armed Forces to diffuse the explosives. One had detonated and collapsed part of a storey building, while the vibration alone caused the smashing of window glasses of numerous buildings in the locality. The Commander of the Sakumono Police Station, ASP. C.N. K. Ziouklui confirmed to The Chronicle that Mrs. O'Sullivan Djentuh had been invited together with one Mr. Dominic Amuri, whom she had been litigating with over a parcel of land.

He noted that the issue was still under investigations to establish who was responsible for the planting of the explosives and that with time, they would file a report to the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Narrating the development to The Chronicle, ASP Ziouklui said Mr. Amuri was building on a plot at a service area in Community 18 but Mrs. Djentuh had also been claiming ownership of the land, mentioning that she was responsible for almost all the utilities in the area.

The police officer stressed that the police wanted to maintain peace in the area, and therefore the place had been under their guard, adding that Mrs. Djentuh had lodged a complaint that during the Christmas period, there was firing of guns in the locality. The Commander said he dispatched his stationmaster to conduct investigations into the complaint but they discovered that rather, it appeared as if the children in the area had been blasting knockouts. “Information was that there is a man there who has been firing warning shots in the evening to ward off armed robbers. Another piece of information was that, some policemen came into a nearby area and made some arrests so they might have fired some shots,” he added.

ASP Ziouklui said it was within the period Mr. Amuri was being queried by the police over the complaint Mrs. Djentuh had lodged with them that his foreman phoned him to inform him that there had been a blast, which had collapsed the rear portion of the building. He continued that they immediately left the office and rushed to the land and upon reaching the place they noticed that part of the building had collapsed. He indicated that when they were going round to conduct a search in the area, they discovered that other explosives had been wrapped under the building, so they bolted from the place and called in the military to diffuse the explosives.

He stated that the police was guarding the whole area and all developers had been warned not to go to the place. When Mrs. Djentuh was contacted, she denied her involvement in the planting of the explosives, stressing that the window glasses of her house were even smashed by the noise that emanated from the detonation of one of the explosives. She indicated that the area, which had been the subject of litigation, belonged to her since the place was a service area and that she was the one responsible for the roads, electricity, water and gutters.

“I bought transformers for electricity, I bought street lights, which I have asked them not to put on until the residents occupy the building. Everyday somebody will come and encroach the area,” she lamented She said since she had not armed her security men, it got to a time the encroachers brought thugs to attack them. Mrs. Djentu said she had about 300 plots in the area and that they were developing the area for the purpose of building estates. Efforts made by the paper to reach Mr. Amuri proved futile.

It might be recalled that on June 18, 2001 this paper reported that some unknown people had demolished over 40 buildings at Kwedonu near Tema valued at billions of cedis. The paper further reported in that story that eyewitnesses said they had spotted the grader used for the operation parked at the premises of O' Sullivan Estates, but this was denied by Mrs. Djentuh.