Four officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and two farmers in the Nadowli-Kaleo District are in police custody over the murder of Patrick Banoebuuri, a farmer at the Piree-Kaangu community.
The Wa District Magistrate Court, presided over by His Worship Maxwell Maxibrian Titriku, remanded the six suspects into custody to assist the police in investigations into the circumstances leading to the victim’s death.
The suspects, Senior Inspector Adjei Boadi Philip, aged 36; Assistant Immigration Control Officer II (AICO) Abdulai Rawuf Abubakar, aged 22; AICO II Nkrumah Alex, 33 years; and AICO II Philip Oppong, 28, all stationed at the GIS post in Nadowli, were charged with murder.
Suspects Pogee Antaa Julius, aged 38, a Unit Committee Chairman of Noro Electoral Area and a farmer, and Logu Seidu, a 49-year-old relative of Patrick Banoebuuri, were also charged with abetment of crime to wit murder.
According to the prosecution, on March 6, 2025, Patrick Banoebuuri was accused of stealing 18 sheep and was arrested by community members. Fourteen of the animals were later retrieved, and he was set free.
On March 7, 2025, Pogee Antaa Julius and Logu Seidu allegedly led a group from Naro to Banoebuuri’s house in Piree-Kaangu and apprehended him again for failing to produce the remaining four sheep.
He was then handed over to Senior Inspector Adjei Boadi Philip, AICO II Abdulai Rawuf Abubakar, AICO II Nkrumah Alex, and AICO II Philip Oppong, who were on duty at the Ghana Immigration checkpoint at Naro, for disciplinary action.
The court heard that the officers “received the deceased in good health and took him through ‘frog jump’ during which he died.”
When informed, the police proceeded to the scene and found Banoebuuri’s lifeless body at the Immigration checkpoint in Naro, covered with tent fabric behind a zinc bathroom. The body was then conveyed to the Upper West Regional Hospital for preservation and autopsy.
The case has been adjourned to Monday, March 17, 2025.
Meanwhile, the Banoebuuri family has appealed to the Inspector General of Police and relevant stakeholders to ensure justice is served.
Richard Banoebuuri, a brother of the deceased, urged influential personalities, particularly in the Upper West Region, to refrain from interfering in the case.
