Court remands 21 Western Togoland military recruits arrested in the Volta Region

An Accra Circuit Court has remanded the 21 suspected Western Togoland military recruits arrested at  Kpevedui in the Volta Region.

The police charged all the suspects with participation in the campaign of a prohibited organisation and also attending a meeting of the organisation.

Soldiers rounded up 21 people, twenty males and female accused persons, at the secret training ground on Tuesday.

The Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Simon Apiosornu, told the court that on February 17, 2020, officers of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), tracked the group to Dzodze in the Volta Region, following several days of intelligence gathering on the activities of the prohibited  Western Togoland Secessionist Group.

The 21 accused persons assembled at Dzodze where they were transported on motorbikes and vehicles to the training camp of the Western Togoland Gorilla Army to train.

He said  Togbe, alias Spider,  briefed the accused persons on the activities of the Western Togoland Secessionist Group.

According to the prosecution, the accused persons paid between  GH₵400 and GH₵800.

The prosecution said the accused persons paid the amount, via mobile money, to an agent (Samuel Gafa) to facilitate their recruitment into the military arm of the Western Togoland secessionist group.

The hearing continues on March 4, 2020.

In an earlier interview, one of the accused persons, Micheal Dakpenese, had said he bought an application form thinking he was joining one of Ghana’s security agencies.

The 21-year-old, a native of Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region, told Citi FM’s Eyewitness News he was naively drawn into a recruitment process he thought was genuine.

“We all paid the money and were subsequently directed to meet some people and were given dates to come to Dzodze. On getting to Dzodze, we were picked and taken to the training camps,” Micheal had said.

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