Churches urged to provide security to ensure safety of members

Kumasi,-The Ashanti Regional Police Command has appealed to the leadership of various churches to take steps to provide security at their premises to ensure the safety of their members.

“This is in view of the emerging cases of criminal activities on the premises of some churches during services and other social events, by some criminal gangs operating in the Kumasi metropolis.”

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Gordon Ahianyo Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, who made the call said it was time the leadership of various churches took action to protect the safety of the life and properties of their members during church activities.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in reaction to the snatching of a vehicle from its owner, while parking in front of a church at Santasi to attend service on Sunday, he said that was not the only case to have happened in the Kumasi metropolis in recent times.

ASP Ahianyo said another woman also reported the theft of her vehicle during a service in one of the churches in the Kumasi metropolis about two weeks ago.

In the Sunday January 16, 2022 case, the two criminals who were wielding a gun suddenly accosted the lady who was trying to remove her nine-month baby from the back seat of the vehicle after parking in front of the church.

The robbers snatched the vehicle together with the little child and bolted.

However, a swift alert of the police by some church members and the hot chase by some taxi drivers who saw the action, as well as the quick response by the police, made the criminals to abandon the vehicle and the baby half way.

The baby and the vehicle had been retrieved while the police mounted an intensive search to arrest the culprits.

ASP Ahianyo said the police, who had already taken crime scene samples and finger prints on the vehicle, were also reviewing the CCTV cameras in the area to help identify the criminals and arrest them.

He stressed the need for members of the public to take keen interest in their own security wherever they found themselves since criminals had devised various strategies to carry out their operations.

ASP Ahianyo said the police were on top of the security situation in the region and called on the citizens to provide information to help the police arrest criminals in the communities.

Source: Ghana News Agency