Police have arrested five suspected landguards for allegedly encroaching on lands belonging to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and Regimanuel Estate in Accra.
They were arrested during a visit by the Greater Accra Regional Security Council (REGSEC) on Friday, October 11.
The council visited the lands following several petitions about landguard activities and encroachments.
Speaking to the media after the visit, the Chairman of REGSEC, Daniel Titus-Glover, pledged to restore order in Accra, while dealing with persons involved in such illegal activities.
“We are in a country of law, not in a jungle. So REGSEC decided to come here to see things for ourselves. Fortunately for us, some of the suspects are here. We’ve picked them (landguards), we are taking them to the police to ask them a few questions, then the law will continue.
“REGSEC, we are here to sanitise the region. We don’t want any ‘landguardism,’ any sort of miscreants that will try to disturb the peace and by so doing, our prayer is that everybody is at peace,” he emphasised.
This action was taken following the declaration of the forest as a security zone by REGSEC in July 2024.
The exercise was also in response to the call by the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs (GARHC) for the government to halt real estate developers from destroying the historical Dodowa Forest.
Immediately after the demolishing exercise, REGSEC and the Forestry Commission undertook a tree-planting exercise to restore the affected areas of the forest.