Oti Region Farmer Arrested After Shooting Suspected Yam Thief Dead on Farm
- The Dambai Divisional Police Command arrested a 35-year-old farmer after a man was shot dead on a farm in the Krachi East Municipality of the Oti Region
- The farmer allegedly opened fire on a man suspected of stealing yams from his farm at Abongo No. 1 in the early hours of Saturday, July 25
- An assembly member for the area told the Ghana News Agency that residents gathered at the police station in an attempt to identify the deceased
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A 35-year-old farmer identified as Kwabena Badam has been arrested by the Dambai Divisional Police Command following the fatal shooting of an unidentified man at Abongo No. 1 in the Krachi East Municipality of the Oti Region.
The shooting took place at around midnight on Saturday, July 25, after the deceased was allegedly found on Badam's farm attempting to make off with a sack of yams.
Source: Getty Images
The farmer reportedly discharged a firearm at the suspect, killing him on the spot.
Shortly after the incident, Badam reportedly presented himself voluntarily at the Dambai Divisional Police Command and informed officers of what had transpired. He was subsequently taken into custody and is currently assisting investigators.
Badam had lodged repeated complaints with the police over persistent theft of food crops from his farm, though the thefts had continued despite those reports.
Philip Kwadwo Bidaba, the Assembly Member for the Kwame-Akura East Electoral Area, said he received a phone call in the early hours of Sunday informing him that a suspected thief had been shot and killed in the community. He immediately travelled to the Dambai Police Station, where he learnt that the suspected shooter had already turned himself in.
Bidaba told the GNA that residents later converged on the police station to help identify the body, but officers declined to open the body bag to allow for identification.
"The body had already been secured in a body bag, making identification difficult. We pleaded with the police to allow residents to assist with identification, but they declined," he said.
Police officers, accompanied by Bidaba and relatives of the detained farmer, subsequently transported the body to the Worawora Government Hospital Mortuary in the Biakoye District for preservation and an autopsy.
The police have not publicly disclosed the full identities of either the deceased or the farmer, stating that formal identification of the victim remains pending alongside the outcome of preliminary investigations.
Source: YEN.com.gh
