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Aveme Danyigba youth halts operation of Cocoa smugglers

Some of the bags containing the cocoa seeds

There was drama at Aveme Danyigba in the North Dayi District of the Volta Region as an assemblyman led a vigilante group, mainly the youth, to arrest a cocoa smuggling syndicate from the Afram Plains area.

The syndicate had crossed the Volta Lake with the aim of crossing the border to the Republic of Togo only to meet a fierce resistance from the angry youth.

The youth action followed a tip-off from officials of COCOBOD that Cocoa beans were being transported across the Volta Lake from Afram Plains to the Volta Region to be smuggled to Togo.

Briefing the media at Aveme Danyigba, the assemblyman for Aveme Electoral Area, Mr Godsway Antwi, said after the hint from COCOBOD staff, the vigilante group took positions around the landing site where a Kia truck with registration number GG 1781-18 arrived.

According to him, the boat finally arrived about 30 minutes after the truck and 99 sacks of Cocoa beans were offloaded onto the truck.

Just when they were about to take off, the youth emerged from their hiding and blocked the road.

According to him, upon realising the danger and youth aggression, the suspected smugglers felt threatened and took to their heels, leaving the truck and the Cocoa beans behind.

The vigilante group, led by the assemblyman, reported the incident to the chief of Aveme Danyigba, Togbe Kokroko.

Mr Antwi said the youth were satisfied when Togbe Kokroko ordered that the vehicle with the sacks of Cocoa beans should be handed over to the police at Anfoega.

“We were happy that a delegation from COCOBOD and the National Security from Accra and Hohoe visited our community and thanked the chief, elders and the youth and rewarded us handsomely for our patriotism.”

Mr Antwi therefore urged Ghanaians to support institutions to fight against criminals such as smugglers and other corrupt practices, which affected the development of the country.

Meanwhile, the truck with the 99 bags of Cocoa beans were transported to the Volta North Police headquarters at Hohoe for further investigation.

A police source said the police would look for the owner of the vehicle to assist and produce the suspected smugglers who escaped.

From Samuel Agbewode, Aveme-Danyigba

News

Committee probing petitions against Chief Justice to begin hearings tomorrow

The Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama to inquire into three petitions filec against the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, will commence hearings tomorrow, Thursday May 15, 2025.

The five-member Committee chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang of the Supreme Court, was set up by the President in accordance with Article 146(6) of the 1992 constitution and in consultation with the Council of State, following a determination of a prima facie case against the Chief Justice.

The committee will sit three times a week and present their recommendations to the President upon completion of their work.

It would be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently suspended Chief Justice following the establishment of a prima facie case in response to three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.

News

38-year-old man gets life imprisonment for killing Assemblies of God pastor in 2018

After close to seven years of trial, a seven-member jury on Wednesday, May 14, returned a guilty verdict in the murder case involving the killing of the Senior Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God church at Tema in 2018.

The convict, Francis Nabegmado, a relative of the deceased, inflicted a fatal knife wound on Rev. Dr. David Nabegmado on December 30, 2018, after alleging that the senior pastor was a false preacher who engaged in idol worship and human sacrifices.

After an hour of summing up by the judge, Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, the jury retired briefly and returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Based on the unanimous verdict of the jurors who had previously studied the statements of the five witnesses called by the prosecution, and listened to the summing up process, the judge sentenced the 38-year-old to life imprisonment.

When he was offered an opportunity to comment on the verdict, the convict told the judge that he wanted to go home to meet his family.

“My Lady, I want to see my family, and I want to be taken to Yendi”.

When the judge told him she couldn’t make such an order for him to go and see his family in Yendi, the convict forcefully said, “I insist”.

Francis, who will now spend the rest of his life at the Nsawam medium security prison, had told the court throughout the trial that the decision to attack his uncle, Rev. Nebegmado, was driven by insanity, but that did not save him from receiving a life sentence.

Speaking briefly after the sentencing, Senior Pastor of the Assemblies of God church at Tema Community 4, Rev. Emmanuel Kwesi Ofori, said the church has been waiting for this closure for the past seven years and will soon issue an official statement.

Source: Myjoyonline.com