GANTA – Police in Nimba County are investigating forty-seven persons suspected of involvement in the recent mob violence that led to the death of two persons in Ganta, the commercial capital of the county.
The two were being investigated by the LNP for their alleged involvement in ritualistic killings in the county when the mob moved in and beat the men to death.
The angry crowd also brutalized three LNP and LDEA officers and one of the seven suspects during the late evening hours of Wednesday, March 20, in the LPMC Community in Ganta.
Updating reporters on the ongoing investigation at the Ganta police Depot on March 27, LNP Regional Commander, Commissioner Morris Teamah, disclosed that the LNP with support from the Gbarnga Regional Hub are probing 47 persons believed to be involved in the March 20 incident.
According to Teamah, the LNP is also currently investigating three persons for their alleged involvement in ritualistic killings in Blehvalay Town in District 7, Nimba County, and another 47 for their involvement in the recent mob violence that took place in Ganta.
“We arrested 87 persons initially and screened them. Of that number, 30 persons were freed because the LNP through our investigation did not see them as people who took part in the violence. So now, we have 50 persons who were taken to Sanniquillie for screening and of those 50 persons, 11 were taken to court, while the others, including the three suspected ritualistic killers, are still being screened,’ Commissioner Teamah explained.
Of the total number of those arrested, seven are women, six juveniles and the rest are men, Commissioner Teamah indicated.
Charges levied against the suspects, according to Commissioner Teamah, include murder, manslaughter, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, and tampering with evidence.
It can be recalled that during the late evening hours of Wednesday, March 27, an angry crowd overpowered state security officers who were transporting seven men suspected to be ritualistic killers from the Saclepea Police Depot to Sanniquillie for further investigation.
A group of angry citizens in their agitation gruesomely murdered two of the suspects, brutalized another and wounded three LNP officers and a LDEA officer.
Since the incident, officers from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and Police Support Unit (PSU) of the LNP have managed to restore calm in the city of Ganta.
Meanwhile, the LNP Region 3 Commander is calling on citizens of Nimba to exercise restraint and give security actors the chance to do their work as, according to him, anything on the contrary will hamper the smooth operations of the security units.
Commissioner Teamah assured citizens of the county that the LNP will continuously update the public at every stage of the investigation.
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