The Ghana Armed Forces says the operation they conducted in parts of Ashaiman was merely a swoop in a man-hunt for some criminals and not for vengeance.

This follows a brutal military invasion of parts of Ashaiman on Tuesday dawn, following the murder of a young soldier, Trooper Imoro Sherrif, on Saturday dawn at Ashaiman-Taifa.

Footages shared on social media show armed military personnel brutalising residents.

According to GAF, “the military operation, which was sanctioned by the Military High Command, was NOT to avenge the killing of the soldier but rather to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime.”

They added that their “swoop” had led to the arrest of about 184 suspects aged between 21 and 47 years old and have they have since handed them over to the military police who will subsequently send them over to the Ghana Police Service for screening and further action.

According to GAF, during the course of their operation they had seized 29 slabs and 57 mini slabs of suspected Indian hemp and amnesia among other forms of the narcotics.

“The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) also wishes to place on record that the swoop was not targeted at innocent civilians but was an intelligence–led operation conducted on suspected hideouts of criminals and crime-prone areas in the general area,” they stressed.

“GAF however acknowledges that regrettably some innocent persons might have been caught up in the operation and consequently suffered some distress due to the location they found themselves at the time,” they added.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Armed Forces has urged the general public to “provide useful information, support the security agencies in weeding out criminals and miscreants from our communities and to desist from shielding and conniving with such suspects in order to the curb criminal activities in the country.”