Nigerian Slips Out Of Cantonment Police Station

Two policemen at the Cantonments Police Station who have been accused of plotting the escape of a cocaine suspect last April, have been interdicted and a service enquiry instituted against them. Chief Inspector P. R. K. Donkor, the officer-in-charge and Constable Eric Ayoriko were suspected to be linked to a conspiracy that enabled Bernard Emile Krah, a Nigerian businessman, who was being held for alleged drug offices, to slip out of the Cantonments Police Station on April 30, 2005.

The Director of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) David Sena Eklu, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that Chief Inspector Donkor had been charged with six counts of misconduct while constable Ayoriko was facing one count. He explained that the counts related to failure to adhere to service regulations in the handling of suspects and disobeying superior orders, among others. He said the two were formally charged in November this year and were expected to face the disciplinary measures anytime soon.

DSP Eklu said the two were entitled to be represented by counsel when appearing before the service enquiry. When the escape of the drug suspect became public knowledge, the two police officers were arrested and placed in custody but were later released on bail. DSP Eklu said the police administration would not spare any of its personnel who indulged in acts that brought the service into disrepute.

Chief Inspector Donkor and Constable Ayoriko were described by the police administration as having 'special interest' in the suspects connected with narcotic offenses and were said to have defied an instruction from the District Police Officer not to take any suspect on remand out of the station without his permission.

The station officer also went against this own directives that investigators of any suspect in the cell must be notified before those suspects were taken out, whether to the hospital or anywhere else. Chief Inspector Donkor and Constable Ayoriko made more than 15 entries in the station diary to the effect that Emile Krah was taken to the Police Hospital for treatment but there was no record at the hospital to that effect. Emile Krah was arrested on October 1, 2004 by officers of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) for possessing 698 grammes of cocaine. He was subsequently granted bail in the sum of ¢500million with two sureties, one to be justified on November 1, 2004. Because the suspect could not redeem the bail bond, he was detained at the Accra Central Police Station but was transferred to the Cantonments Police station following renovation works at the Central police station. Emil Krah was at the Cantonments Police Station until he escaped on April 1, 2005.

The station officer however failed to inform his superiors or the NACOB about the suspects escape, neither did he make any entry to that effect in the station's diary. The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Mr. David Asante-Apeatu, called for an investigation after he had been notified by the NACOB about the incident. It was uncovered during the investigations that Chief Inspector Donkor and his subordinates had taken the suspect to town for various reasons on not less than 24 occasions with Chief Inspector Donkor personally sending Krah on eight different occasions.