Shortly after his fatal shooting of 26-year-old Gibril Sumaila in Accra Newton, a Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) officer, Ahmed Sari Suleimana, 30, has been arrested by his employers as a probe is ordered into the incident.

The deceased was gunned down in an operation which was not known by the Nima Division of the Ghana Police Service under whose jurisdiction the area falls.

The Daily Guide newspaper says its source close to the National Security apparatus has said that the operation was unauthorized.

Gibril Sumaila, whose wife is carrying an advanced pregnancy, was buried on Wednesday shortly after his remains were released from the 37 Military Hospital. The cause of death, according to the coroner's report, was haemorrhagic shock as a result of a gunshot to his thigh.

The report corroborates a family member's position that the deceased, after he was shot, was left to bleed for a long period before he was bundled into the boot of a waiting car.

The dialogue which ensued after he was shot, according to the deceased's sister, Lauratu Sumaila, appears to point to callous treatment of a wounded man who had been mistaken for a car snatcher the BNI team was searching for.

"It was at about l0am on Sunday. Two young men entered our house. They did not greet anybody. Then I heard a gunshot and Iron (the suspect they were looking for) asked of what was happening from his room. I responded 'Police'. Then one of the BNI chaps asked, "Where is Iron?" Iron, on seeing what was unfolding, fled," she recalled.

She added that one of the BNI agents held her arm and asked to be taken to Iron's room where the mattress was lifted and a gun and a machete were found.

The agent asked about the vocation of the said Iron, to which she said she did not know.

Lauratu said as they stood there, one of the agents came from outside to announce gleefully, "I've shot the guy".

Lauratu did not know at the time that it was her brother who had been shot, but asked, "which guy?" to which the man answered, "the one who was sitting outside".

Even after the gruesome incident, Lauratu alleged that one of the officers told her that “I will marry you,” to which she replied "I can't".

The alleged shooter then added, "The guy is bleeding. Let us take him to the hospital," but his colleague said, "Let us finish with the operation first".

Lauratu, who gave a written statement to the Nima Police yesterday, contended that her brother was described as a Rasta man even though he is not one.

Another family member, Mutari Sumaila told DAILY GUIDE that the BNI did not do anything to facilitate the recovery of their brother at the Military Hospital even though they promised to do so.

"Nobody has assisted us with the expenses we incurred since the incident," he said. When pressed for the money expended so far, he said it stands at about five million cedis.

The source said even at the Military Hospital, they spent 500,000 cedis, adding that "at the Births and Deaths Department, we paid 60,000 cedis and when we demanded a receipt, we were told that the burial permit represents a receipt."

A pained Mutari Sumaila said "I am disappointed in the action of the BNI agents because at the time of their operation, they had in their possession the picture of the man they were looking for.

Besides, when they were chasing my brother who was scared at their sight, they were told that he was not the suspect. Why was he shot and dumped into the boot of a car after a delayed movement to hospital for attention.

Iron, the man the BNI operatives were supposed to be looking for, was alleged to have driven off a National Security car after its driver left his wife with the key in the ignition.

Information led to the fact that Iron lived at Newtown where the team stormed last Sunday without seeking assistance from the Nima Divisional Police.

The Family is working towards taking legal action against the BNI.

Source: Daily Guide