Credit: By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), Sept. 14, GNA – The Upper West Regional Police Command, Wednesday, engaged stakeholders in the region who solicit the services of the private security men (Watchmen) to chart ways of ending the menace of mystery killings.
The stakeholders included private school operators and managers in the region, especially in the Wa Municipality.
Speaking to the media in Wa on the sideline of the meeting, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Peter Anombugri Ndekugri, the Upper West Regional Police Commander, said the situation was a source of worry to him and his officers as well as the public.
He said within this year alone, four private security men had gone missing in Wa with two of them found dead while the other two had not been found.
“For the past two weeks, I have been having sleepless nights as well as my men. That is why we are calling on the stakeholders who have gathered here today to assist us (the police) to put out certain strategic plans in place to ensure that our security men are safe”, DCOP Mr. Ndekugri said.
He indicated that though the police had not yet made any arrests in Wa regarding the series of killings and missing security guards, they had made some arrests in relation to similar cases in the Nadowli-Kaleo and Wa West Districts who were currently being prosecuted.
The Police Commander observed that they had revamped their patrols in Wa with appropriate logistical support being provided by the government including motorbikes.
He indicated that the failure of the people in the region to report perpetrators of those acts to the police was hampering their efforts in combatting the menace and craved the indulgence of the public to volunteer information on crime issues to the police.
“We called for this meeting to appeal to the conscience of the people of this region to ensure that they provide the necessary information to the police for us to get to the bottom of this matter.
It is difficult for people to volunteer information for the fear that they might be betrayed,” he explained.
DCOP Ndekugri intimated that “there is no doubt that somebody from the outside who is interested in these human parts is rather influencing the indigenes using the mere medium of exchange, which is money, to entice them to commit these heinous crimes.”
He said security was a shared responsibility and cited an instance where he recently rescued another security man who was being attacked at about 1000HRS GMT upon a tip-off by an indigene who heard the victim scream at his duty post.
The recent incident involved a security man of Star Standard Academy in Wa who went to work on Sunday, September 11, 2022, and had since not returned and all searches for him had not yielded positive results.
GNA