Invisible Forces take over toll booth
The Invisible Forces, a vigilante group associated with the New Patriotic Party (NPP), yesterday attempted to forcibly take over the management of the toll booth at the Tema end of the Tema-Accra Motorway.
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Led by Mr Mohammed Ali, who described himself as the commander of the forces in the metropolis, about 60 members of the group, all riding motorbikes, allegedly stormed the toll booth about 7:30 a.m. and raided the collection offices of the facility.
They are said to have taken away an unspecified amount of money that had been collected by the collectors at the time of the incident.
During the melee, many vehicles plying the route were allowed to drive through without making any payment.
Some workers at the facility who attempted to video the attack were manhandled by the group.
It took the intervention of the police to prevent the group from assaulting journalists from the Daily Graphic and Metropolitan Television (Metro TV).
The group snatched the camera of a reporter of TV3 and deleted a video recording that he had made.
Police
The police deployment from the Ashaiman and Tema commands took two hours to restore calm at the facility.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Tema Regional Police Command, ASP Juliana Obeng, told journalists at the scene that the police were called in about 7:40 a.m. by members of the public plying the route.
According to her, although the situation was bad at the beginning, the police managed to restore calm and negotiated with the leaders of the group, who subsequently released the money they had taken from the toll booth which they had kept in a Benz saloon vehicle, with registration number GN 7174 Z.
She said the police did not make any arrests, since the leaders cooperated with them. A similar incident occurred at the Afienya toll booth on the Tema-Akosombo road where scores of young people from Afienya and parts of Dawhenya attempted to take over the facility.But Ms Obeng said the police restored order and deployed some men at the booth to ensure the maintenance of law and order.
Invisible Forces
Mr Ali, justifying the action of the group, indicated that they had information that workers at the facility were looting funds at the facility.
According to him, previous signals picked up by the group suggested that members of outgoing governments often looted money from the state when they were about to exit power.
He dismissed reports that the group was planning to attack public places of convenience in the metropolis, as well as institutions such as the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
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