You will be responsible if you fail to check the antecedents of the tenants – Police to the owners

General News on Friday, April 26, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-04-26

Police warned that property owners who fail to rigorously check the background of potential tenants, especially foreigners, would be held responsible if they were involved in a crime.

ACP Kwesi Ofori, director of operations of the Accra Regional Police Command, said that owners should take and retain a form of identity and have plenty of information about who is consulting them to rent or buy their properties.

He told Gifty Andoh Appiah of Joy News that the owners will be considered accomplices and will be seriously treated.

"People can not come and use your property as a prison to detain and mistreat other people … the investigations will count them seriously [when their tenants commit crimes]," he said.

Police are on the hunt for three Nigerians who kidnapped a consular general and head of the Estonian mission in Accra last Thursday, April 18.

According to the Accra Police Command's public relations officer, DSP Efia Tenge, Nabil Makram Bashbous, 61, was on his usual morning walk through his neighborhood when he was been removed.

The diplomat said that he could not identify the place where he had been driven but that he was detained in a room and held hostage against the payment of ransom.

The police followed up on the information and located the house in Sakumono, but their attempts to enter the house met with resistance from the occupiers. During the process, the three occupants climbed a fence wall at the back of the house and escaped.

Mr. Makram Basbous came out of one of the rooms, thereafter.

On Friday, a 30-year-old Indian businessman, kidnapped Thursday night, was also rescued by police.

Umpakan Chodri sought refuge in a house located in the premises of Joko Primary School of Akokoamon, in the Ashanti region, after begging for the concealment of women who were in the house, then that he narrowly escaped his captors armed with pistols.

With the help of women, he contacted his brother, who also contacted the police.

As a result, ACP Ofori warns homeowners to take action when contacted by potential tenants.

He added that in the Sakumono case, the owner had been asked to answer questions to allow his property to be used for this purpose.

The director of operations of the Accra Regional Police Command wants Parliament to enact legislation allowing all owners to take an identity card before renting or selling their property.

Below you will find some safety tips for the public from ACP Ofori.

– At the moment you see a fight between two people in which a person is trying to push someone into a vehicle, immediately call the police emergency numbers or any local police.

-The public should be interested in policemen around their area and have their contacts if possible.

– People should study their environment well and not take things for granted when they notice that people follow them while walking or walking.

– He urges those who find themselves in such situations to break their heads, to do something unusual to sound the alarm or to go to the nearest police station.

– ACP Ofori also discourages people from going to the ATM at night when the place has less human activity.

– For those who are withdrawing money from banks, he said they should apply for non-prescription service so as not to draw unnecessary attention to themselves.

– According to him, we can never say to the bad guys who are loitering, so they should not go and get money in public places or activity areas like the shopping center.