Police took 25 minutes to rescue Canadian girls – reveals Information Minister

General News on Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2019-06-12

It took about 25 minutes for national security personnel to rescue the two Canadian women abducted in Kumasi.

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, revealed this information at a press conference Wednesday as part of the women's rescue mission whose history has made headlines since their kidnapping Tuesday.

Both; Lauren Patricia Catherine Tilley, 19, and Bailey Jordan Chitty, 20, he said, were found early Wednesday, June 12, 2018 in Kanyasi, Kumasi.

Intelligence gathering efforts have allowed security agencies to focus on the suspects badociated with the incident. The suspects, he said, however did not go without a fight they used their bullets, which resulted in a series of gunfire between the suspects and the security team.
A suspect was slightly injured by the shooting.

"At 7 pm, a first arrest was made. At 9:15 pm, one of the accomplices directly involved in this incident was also arrested by the joint team that runs this operation. A Ghanaian local contact, who provided food to the kidnappers, was apprehended at around 8:45 pm, which led to the arrest of the other accomplices.

"The place of detention of the victims was subsequently surrounded shortly before 5 am and at 5:15 am a joint team had entered the scene in the hope of saving the girls. Shots were fired from the scene and the operation took about 25 minutes. By the end of the operation, the two Nigerians who were holding the women had been under control and the third Nigerian, who would be the leader of the gang, was later arrested in a separate place, "he said.

Eight suspects have already been arrested in connection with the crime; five Ghanaians and three Nigerians.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah claimed that "no foreign badets were involved in the operation," despite rumors that the government and police have received satellite information from the Canadian government.

He revealed that the victims are currently in Accra and are being evaluated at the Canadian Embbady.

Other investigations and other possible arrests are still ongoing.

Context

Lauren Patricia Catherine Tilley, 19, and Bailey Jordan Chitty, 20, were abducted on June 4, 2019 in Kumasi as they returned home from a youth development program organized by Youth Challenge International.

In the Asokwa Four-Junction neighborhood, Lauren, Bailey and a third person told their colleagues that they were going to their hostel located in Nhyiaeso, around the Royal Gulf Club.

Their colleagues and friends never saw them again, their disappearance having triggered one of the largest police operations in Kumasi in the context of recent kidnappings in the country.