JoyNews reporter Carlos Carlony has detailed a harrowing experience in which he says military operatives physically assaulted him and forced the CEO of McDan Group, together with three others, to kneel at gunpoint during a demolition exercise in Accra.

The incident occurred while Carlos and his crew were covering the demolition of a warehouse allegedly owned by McDan when heavily armed National Security operatives stormed the site.

“In fact, I was punched. By then, the CEO of McDan Group and three others were asked to kneel. So they were kneeling at gunpoint,” Carlos revealed on The Pulse on JoyNews.

The journalist says the soldiers believed he had filmed the scene and turned their attention to him and an eyewitness at the scene.

“We tried to capture that moment; we could not, so we left it. But they thought that we had captured the moment when McDan, the CEO, was kneeling with his three others. But then this eyewitness was also somewhere being beaten by other military people.”

Carlos said the military operatives accused the group of interfering in a “lawful demolition”, although the CEO of McDan denied being shown any official documents justifying the operation.

• Read also: JoyNews journalist Carlos Carlony recounts Military assault at the McDan warehouse demolition site.

“The initial conversation I heard was that they were being charged for interfering in the lawful demolition. But when we spoke to the CEO, he said they were yet to see any official document from those carrying out the demolition,” Carlos recounted.

Shortly after the confrontation, Carlos was arrested and taken to a National Security facility along with the CEO of McDan and the others. He says he was later released and driven back to the scene under military escort.

“They gave me a pickup with three military personnel back to the scene. They drove me back to pick up my vehicle,” he said. However, even upon return, Carlos says he was subjected to further scrutiny.

“I had my driver’s phone with me, and they demanded to check the visuals on his phone. I had to call the driver to give me the password. Seven armed men stood there while we unlocked and searched the phone.”

The same process was repeated at the National Security office.

“They went through my phones… they really didn’t want me to capture the moment where the CEO was kneeling, which was, I don’t know, a bit demeaning, because guns were pointed at him and his people.”