The Sunyani Magistrate's Court, presided over by Mr Albert Zoogah, has granted bail in the sum of GHc5,000 with two sureties each to be justified to five police personnel of the Dragon Unit of the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command for allegedly extorting CFAl00,000 franc from two Ivorian traders in the Techiman Municipality. The court also granted bail in the sum of GHcl00,000 with two sureties to be justified to a Techiman-based businessman, Mr Kwadwo Adjei, who is also alleged to have extorted CFA450,000 from the two Ivorians, namely Amadu Watara and Salifu Watara. The five policemen, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of extortion, are Sergeant Peter Okanta, Corporal Martin Adjei, Lance Corporal Richard Oppong, and Constables Gabriel Yaw Ansong and William Nutakor. They and the civilians are to reappear before the court on July 7, 2008. The presiding judge granted the bail following an application by the counsel of the five policemen and the civilian, which was upheld, that the charge preferred against the accused persons was a second degree felony, which, according to him, the court had the jurisdiction to grant bail, adding that the granting of bail in such cases was also at the discretion of the court. Police Superintendent Ernest Owusu, who presented the facts of the case in court, said the complainants were Ivorian traders from the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire who were held by the rebels, and following the war there had been a shortage of small denominations of the CFA franc in that part of the country. He said the complainants therefore decided to come to a border town in Ghana called Kaba where they met a middleman called Adama, who told them that he knew someone who would be able to change the higher CFA Franc denominations into coins. The prosecutor told the court that on June 1, 2008 the said Adama led them to Techiman at about 2.30 p.m. and met Kwadwo Adjei, who drove them in his car, with registration number RT 1765 AF, and assured the complainants that he could change the money into coins for them. Supt. Owusu said Adjei took the complainants to a house at Dwomo, a suburb in the Techiman Municipality, and collected CFA450,000 from them to go and change it for them, adding that while waiting for Adjei in the house another taxi cab with three occupants pulled up and they told the complainants that Adjei had asked them to bring them to the office. He said the occupants drove the taxi cab to the Techiman-Wenchi road, and at a distance they were signalled by Adjei, who was in his car, to stop but they did not stop and while on the road, the five policemen who were also on board a police service vehicle, with registration number GP 1626, overtook them and asked them to stop. Supt. Owusu said the policemen quickly jumped out of their vehicle with their rifles and the complainants took to their heels, but they were pursued by the policemen who caught up with one of the complainants, Amadu, and subjected him to a search and collected the CFA100,000 from him. He stated that thereafter the policemen took Amadu to the Tuobodom Police Station and about 8.10 p.m. on the same day the five policemen came back to the police station and released him. Supt. Owusu further told the court that the policemen took Amadu back to Adjei and he (Adjei) drove him (Amadu) to Jakoline, another suburb in Techiman, and abandoned him there. A report was made to the police, which led to the arrest of the five policemen and the civilian, and after investigations they were charged with the offence and arraigned before court. Supt. Owusu told the court that investigation in the case was still ongoing. Source: The Mirror