Forestry official attacked by chainsaw operators

THE BEKWAI District Manager of the Forestry Commission (FC), Mr. Augustine Gyedu, has appealed to the people of Numereso, a farming community in the Amansie Central district to assist the police in arresting five residents of the town, who are alleged to have assaulted an official of the Commission while on duty.

The official name (withheld) was said to have been assaulted, and stripped of her jackets and trousers by the chainsaw operators on Thursday October 2.

Briefing the press on the incident, Mr. Gyedu explained that the victim, on the day in question, after carrying out her boundary inspection duties, was asked by a male counterpart to join him to evacuate chainsaw lumber deposited in an oil palm plantation.

He continued that the two decided that the victim keep watch over the lumber, whilst her male counterpart went and arranged for a truck from Obuasi to convey the lumber.

While waiting for the truck and her colleague, a gang of five young men wielding cutlasses allegedly confronted the victim, and questioned why they were going to evacuate the lumber, adding “in the process, one Adamu and Kwaku Duah dragged the victim about two kilometers away from the scene, and brutally assaulted her.

“Adamu and Duah tied her arms and legs with rope, slashed her right upper arm with a cutlass, and bolted with her mobile phones,” he alleged.

Mr. Gyedu added that it was after the victim's colleague had returned to the scene that he managed to rescue her.

He said efforts by the police to arrest the suspects had since proved futile, hence the appeal.