Residents are vehemently refuting a police report claiming police officials did not siphon fuel from the accident tanker in Adadientem
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, has instructed the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) to commence investigations into alleged siphoning of fuel from an overturned tanker by some personnel from the Ejisu District Command, in the Ashanti region.
Public Relations Officer for the Ashanti Region Police Command, ASP Mohammed Tanko has told Joy News, the team was already in Kumasi to commence investigations into the matter.
ASP Tanko described as false, earlier reports suggesting that the officers had been exonerated.
Some personnel from the Ejisu Command were last week alleged to have siphoned fuel from an overturned tanker at Adadientem. But the Ejisu District Police Command has denied the report.
Erastus Asare Donkor of Luv FM reports that a police report signed by ASP Mohammed Tanko said preliminary investigations show the police never carried receptacles to siphon the fuel from the overturned tanker.
Ejisu District Police Commander, DSP Yaw Obeng Asubonteng was on a Kumasi based radio claiming he supervised residents to scoop the spilling fuel to prevent it from spreading further.
This denial has angered the residents of Adadientem who insist the police were the first to scoop the diesel oil before some locals got to the scene.
A resident told Erastus Asare Donkor that the police personnel came three times with their “big containers” to scoop the spilling fuel.
According to residents, the police personnel even seized the fuel which other residents had fetched in addition to what they (police) had come to siphon.
The Fire Service has also been implicated in the fuel-siphoning incident.
Ejisu Fire Service Commander, Janet Mensah, told Luv FM she only requested to fill the fire tender with the spilling fuel with permission from the tanker driver – a request she claimed was granted after her persistence.