Brigadier General Eric Aggrey Quarshie, the Director General of Public Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), has spoken about how some of the viral videos of the March 7 swoop at Ashaiman got onto social media platforms.
He explained that it was worrying that the actions and inactions of officers had ended up giving the military a hard time with the huge public backlash that greeted their intelligence-led operation.
“The funny thing is that some of the pictures you saw were taken by soldiers and posted on their Facebook and WhatsApp pages,” General Quarshie stated.
“But for that, some of the issues may not have come out. But I just want you to know that there are a lot of people who are happy that we entered those areas in Ashaiman. Maybe if you live around that place, you will appreciate,” he added.
The military officer made these comments when he participated in the IPR AGM held at Kwahu-Nkwatia in the Eastern Region under the theme ‘Staying Credible Through Rough Patches’.
The March 7 military swoop
Dozens of military officers stormed Ashaiman in the operation that saw some soldiers entering the town in trucks, with an armoured car plus a helicopter hovering over the town.
The exercise is said to be in response to the gruesome murder of a young soldier, Trooper Sherrif Imoro, by some unidentified persons on Saturday, March 4, 2023.
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Videos of the invasion shared across social media show various forms of assault being meted on residents by the rampaging officers who subjected some of the residents to severe beatings.
In a statement released in the early hours of March 8, the Ghana Armed Forces admitted authorizing the swoop which led to the arrest of 184 persons, as well as the seizure of suspected illegal drugs.
In the said statement, they also acknowledged excesses may have resulted in the swoop but failed to apologize for or commit to conduct a probe on same.
All suspects have since been released without charge whiles the police have arrested six people for their alleged roles in the death of Sherrif Imoro.
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