Kwame Ato Asare Ani, a man wanted by the Ghana Police Service, has talked from a hiding about the circumstances that led to his capture in a standoff with police personnel. According to him, he is not an armed robber as the Ghana Police Service describes him, but rather a police informant in the Axim area. Ani stated in an exclusive interview with Kevin Taylor on his Loud Silence TV that he has been working with the police as an informant and a liaison between the police and several illegal miners in the area for the past year. He said that, in addition to collecting money from illegal miners on behalf of the police, he and his gang have been providing security and combating criminals in the region with the police's help and agreement.
While addressing the circumstances that led to his rupture with the police, Kwame Ani stated that he received a payment of GHC100,000.00 from some illegal miners but failed to submit the money to the police because he felt duped by the police in earlier transactions.
"Everyone in my town knows I work with the cops." Police officers visit my house at least five times a day to collect money. They won't leave if they don't see me. I constantly give them money.
"The police are chasing me because they instructed me to collect one billion (GH100,000.00) from a site in Kwakukrom, but I refused to hand over the money." That is why they are so upset with me.
"I didn't pay them the money since I felt duped after all this time working with them." Every time, they merely gave me a few thousand or two thousand dollars...
"It is because of the one billion I took and failed to give to them that they are accusing me of being a robber. But I am not an armed robber, nobody can prove that I have ever robbed their site. Sarfo (Axim Police Commander) told me to bring the one billion before they will release my car and other machines which they have seized,” he said.
On Sunday, April 2, 2023, GhanaWeb reported on a viral video in which a gang member is seen accosting a police officer and accused the officer of attempting to arrest him after he had paid him money. Following that, the Ghana Police Service issued a statement on Sunday stating that four persons were arrested on March 28 after the Axim Divisional Police Patrol Unit reported an attack on them by a gang. According to the police, they also conducted a search at Kwame Asare's home, where they found firearms and other materials.
"On March 9, this year, the Axim Divisional Police patrol team reported an attack on the team by a gang that grabbed the magazine of a Service rifle as well as some police officers' mobile phones."
"An intelligence operation was promptly begun on the report to apprehend the suspects."
"On March 28, 2023, after roughly three weeks of the intelligence operation, four persons were detained for their probable involvement in the attack: Kojo Siah alias Mozey; Emmanuel Mensah alias Kofi Asamoah, Maxwell Cudjoe, and Agyabu Haruna Dissawu."
"Three pump-action shotguns were recovered during a search at the home of Kwame Ato Asare Ani, the key suspect who is still on the run."
“Also, one pump-action shotgun, machetes and eight BB refilled cartridges were retrieved from the suspect’s unregistered Honda CRV vehicle. Other items retrieved from the suspects include two live refilled BB cartridges and one unregistered motorbike,” the police statement said.
According to the statement, the police were made aware of a video depicting a conflict between several police officers and the arrested gang in which the policemen were pleading with the gang members over an extortion claim.
The extortion claim has subsequently been sent to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) for examination, according to the statement.
In the said video, the leader of the gang is heard shouting at a group of police officers saying “You asked me to show you something and I showed it to you. Now I ask you to drop me the car and you insist that you are sending me away. Where were you sending me to? You came to demand money at the site and we gave you everything. After that, I asked you to drop me from the car and yet you insisted on sending me. So, if I had not asked someone to block the road with a motorbike you would have sent me away,” the gang leader is heard furiously confronting a member of a group of police officers with a patrol car in what looked like a forest.
As the confrontation raged on, the leader of the gang is heard shouting various commands at his group while the police officers bend on their knees pleading.
“Kwame we beg you,” one of the officers states as he held on to his rifle from being taken away from him by the gang leader.
