Sixteen young men, who in the early hours of Wednesday seized the Adomi Bride Toll Booth and sacked the legitimate staff of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), have been arrested by the Eastern Regional Police Command.
According to Eastern Regional Commander of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Stephen Andoh-Kwofie, in the early hours of Wednesday, the group went to the Adomi Bridge Toll Booth and ordered the staff of the GHA
to leave whiles they took over the collection of revenue.
He said at that time, about two police officers had been stationed for security reasons at both ends of the bridge and so they called for
reinforcement and the 16 suspects were arrested and sent to the regional command.
DCOP Andoh-Kwofie said at the time of the arrest the young men were in the booth and had collected an unspecified amount of money which was with the police.
He said to ensure that the state did not loose any revenue, the legitimate officials of the GHA were asked to go back to their post with
beefed up security.
The Regional Police Commander said contrary to rumours that those arrested were activists of the National Democratic Congress, the identities
of their party affiliation were not known and that the police was still investigating the matter.
He said the police had beefed up security and taken adequate measures to forestall the re-occurrence of such incidence. Meanwhile all the 16 had been granted bail.
When the District Chief Executive of Asuogyaman, Mr Johnson Ahiakpor, was contacted on the issue, he said the suspects were members of the Finance and Administration Sub-Committee of the assembly.
He said the group took those actions because they alleged that some of the GHA revenue collectors were allowing vehicles to cross the bridge without collecting tolls from them.
Mr Ahiakpor said members of the committee and some local drivers in the district had complained that while the GHA toll collectors insisted on collecting the appropriate revenue, they normally collected half the tolls that heavy duty vehicles were supposed to pay without issuing them with receipts and also allowed them to cross the bridge late at night.
Mr Ahiakpor said when he received the information that members of the committee had taken over the collection of tolls on the bridge, he called a brief management meeting and before they got to the scene to resolve the issue, the police had arrested the culprits and whisked them to Koforidua.