Liberian Vice President, Jeremiah Koung, has recounted how a Ghanaian police officer, Emmanuel Ekow Addisson saved him from going to jail.
This according to him was 24 years ago when he was a businessman and together with his five friends were wrongly labelled and arrested as suspected armed robbers.
Mr Kuong narrated the ordeal in an interview with Joy News when he recently visited Ghana to find his good Samaritan, who is now on retirement.
He narrated they had embarked on a journey to Togo to purchase cars during Liberia’s civil war and made a stop in Ghana to buy gas cylinders.
However, what was meant to be a smooth business trip resulted in an incident which would have ruined their lives forever between 1998 to 2000 but for the intervention of Mr Addison.
“We came by a bus by a company called STIF from Danale in Cote D’Ivoire around 9pm and got to Accra around 1 am on Sunday morning.
“One of my friends suggested we should find an entertainment centre to while away time instead of booking a hotel. So we went to Yakiki around 4 am on Sunday morning and that was when I realised shops don’t even open so we decided to return to Togo,” he narrated.
Determined to return, they hired an 18-seater bus but later realised two other people they thought were the conductors got unto the bus.
They fell asleep shortly due to the stress from partying and the alcohol they consumed except for one of his friends, who was a Togolese.
A discussion the driver had with the other two passengers in Twi who turned out to be robbers caught the attention of his friend who was wide awake, causing him to raise an alarm.
The driver and the accomplices he said absconded but left the key in the ignition, hence they decided to drive the car to the nearest police station.
Unknown to them, the bus driver had ran to a nearby naval base to accuse them of robbery attempt and they were given a hot chase amidst indiscriminate shooting, so they had to sleep in a bush on the Accra-Togo Highway.
The next day, they lodged a complaint at the Ashaiman police station, where they encountered Officer Addison, who was the CID assigned to the case.
“As part of investigations, he took us to the crime scene and the naval base where two of my friends had already been arrested and sent to the Fishing Harbour police station.
“The rest of us were also taken into custody because we were now implicated in the crime,” he recollected.
Mr Addison who corroborated his story said some of Mr Koung’s friends were injured and were taken to the Tema General Hospital for treatment and later taken into custody.
The bus driver who had earlier filed the complaint at the Fishing Harbour was invited but his account Mr Addison noted was incoherent, hence he had to tread cautiously.
In his quest to ascertain their claims of being businessmen, the retired investigator he said he asked for a proof.
They were however reluctant because they [Mr Koung and friends] thought their money will be taken from them once they release it.
However, upon persuasion, they took Mr Addison to Tulaku where they had buried US$40000 meant for their trading in Togo and used a stick as a sign post.
Mr Addison added he also requested for a call card of their business partner in Togo and got in touch with him, asked that he comes to Ghana which he obliged.
After taking their statements, he was convinced beyond reasonable thought they were innocent and had a conference meeting with relevant commanders to bring finality to the case.
After hours of engagement, the Regional Commander based on his own discretion discontinued the case and the driver allowed to go because there was no concrete evidence to prosecute him.
As a show of appreciation, the Vice President disclosed they offered the policeman US$1,000 but he turned it down.
To Mr Kuong, the retired policeman probably wanted something more so he engaged his friends so they could increase it to $3,000 but he still rejected.
When asked why, he responded he was only discharging his duties, adding his two brothers were out of Ghana and it could have been them.
After over two decades Mr Koung said all attempts to reconnect Mr Addison proved futile until recently.
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