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Former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra to face royal insult charges

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Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be indicted on charges of insulting the monarchy, the country’s attorney-general has said.

The controversial political leader, who returned to Thailand last year after 15 years in exile, is being charged over an interview he gave to a Korean newspaper nine years ago.

He is the most high-profile figure to face charges under Thailand’s notorious lese majeste law, which has been used extensively against political dissidents.

Hundreds of people have been charged in the last four years alone.

A huge figure in Thai politics, Mr Thaksin’s return to the country last year had appeared to put an end to the bitter political rivalry between his family and the conservative groups who feared his populist style of leadership.

In what had looked like a grand bargain, his party was allowed to form a coalition government with some of his political opponents, to keep out the youthful reformist party Move Forward which had won the most votes and seats in the 2023 election.

But the decision to indict the 74-year-old former premier under the draconian lese majeste law shows that he still has enemies in Thailand’s powerful royalist establishment.

The charges related to an interview he gave to a Korean newspaper in 2015 while he was in exile.

In that article, he had accused the king’s top advisory body, the privy council, of helping engineer the 2014 military coup which deposed an administration led by his sister Yingluck.

Yingluck Shinawatra, elected in the 2011 general election, led Thailand for three years before being ousted by the coup.

EPA Prosecutors announcing the indictment in Bangkok on Wednesday
Prosecutors announced the indictment in Bangkok on Wednesday

The privy council is not technically covered by the lese majeste law, but these days it has been often broadly interpreted to cover any opinion which might reflect negatively on the royal family.

More than 270 people have been charged under the law since mass protests four years ago in which the monarchy was subjected to unprecedented public criticism.

Mr. Thaksin’s lawyers say they are confident of defending him in court; but in the typically protracted period before he is likely to go to trial this indictment may force him to limit his political ambitions.

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Crime

Drama in court over stolen goats

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There was drama at an Accra Circuit Court when two out of three accused persons admitted stealing goats at Teshie Camp Two area in Accra. 

Emmanuel Agyei, aka Obama, a fisherman and David Agyei, a borehole driller, pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy and stealing. 

The accused persons, said it was true that they had been stealing goats and that on August 8, 2024, they stole locally bred goats within the vicinity, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reports. 

The police is holding them for allegedly stealing nine foreign goats from Germany valued at $13,500 belonging to one Seidu Yakubu, the complainant in the case. 

Emmanuel Agyei told the court that: “The goat I stole doesn’t belong to the complainant. I have not seen the kind of goats the police are talking about. I have shown the complainant and the places where I stole the goats. I don’t know anything about the kind of goats the police are talking about in the pictures taken.” 

In the case of David Agyei, he told the court that, “We did not steal from the complainant, the goats we stole were African breed. We are not the group of people who sell to the buyer.” 

The court, after listening to the accused persons, convicted them but deferred their sentence to September 2, 2024. 

Baba Musah, aka Baba Talatu, a butcher, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of dishonestly receiving, has also been remanded into police custody. 

The police said three accomplices, whose names were given as Nat, Aapah, Boola Gee, were at large. 

The prosecution, led by Superintendent of Police Augustine Yirenkyi, said the police were searching for other accomplices on the run. 

The prosecution said the complainant, Yakubu Seidu, was a driver and an animal farmer at Teshie Camp 2. 

The court heard that on Sunday, August 11, 2024, at about 0400 hours, the complainant woke up and detected the theft of nine of his foreign-breed goats. 

On the same day, the prosecution said the Police Intelligence Directorate (PID) received intelligence about a syndicate that snatched victims’ cars and used them to steal goats, and hide at Teshie and James Town. 

The prosecution said the PID mounted surveillance and arrested Emmanuel Agyei, David Agyei and Baba Musah, but the other accomplices managed to escape. 

During interrogation, Emmanuel and David admitted the offence and told the Police that they used to steal and sell.  

Emmanuel and David led the Police to Boola Gee’s house at James Town, where four sheep and two goats were found in a blue-black 2002 model Honda CRV with registration number GN 438-14 and a blue-black Nissan Altima with registration number GT3107-18.  

Emmanuel and David admitted to the Police that they stole with one Nathaniel and Aapah and sold the livestock to Boola Gee. 

The court was told that Baba Musah admitted having bought five goats from Emmanuel, David and Nathaniel at GH₵2,500. 

On August 12, 2024, the prosecution said the complainant came to the Directorate and identified two goats as his. 

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Crime

Police destroy large quantity of narcotics by court order

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The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has destroyed a significant quantity of narcotic substances following orders from the Accra Circuit Court.

The items destroyed included 248 fertilizer sacks, 315 wraps, 24 sachets, and 68 compressed slabs of various narcotics, along with three medium-sized buckets of heroin.

“We are here to destroy some substances; cocaine, dry leaves thus cannabis, after those cases have been dealt with by the court,” Registrar at the Accra Circuit Court Prosper Kingsley Damakah revealed to journalists

The substances were seized and used as evidence in cases tried by the circuit court between 2020 and 2024.

“Some of the cases started in 2020. The people were arrested by the Police, charged and brought to court. Judgments have been delivered in the cases’ Mr. Damakah clarified.

The burning of the narcotics was carried out at the shore behind the Black Star Square in Accra and was witnessed by representatives from the Narcotics Control Commission and the Judicial Service.

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Crime

4 remanded in Tumu for alleged robbery of MoMo vendor

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The Tumu Magistrate Court in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region has remanded four individuals in custody on charges of allegedly robbing a mobile money vendor.

The suspects have been under police surveillance in Tumu due to a series of robberies targeting commuters in the Sissala East Municipality. 

Their arrest was the result of an investigation into an attack on the mobile money vendor.

The suspects, Sumaila Tembieru (a mechanic), Hamidu Muniru (a farmer), Sumaila Issahaku (also a mechanic), and Salifu Abu (a farmer), were apprehended on July 19 following thorough police investigations in Tumu related to a robbery in the Kong community. 

The mobile money vendor was deprived of his cash and two mobile phones during the incident.

At the Tumu Magistrate Court, Sissala East Municipal Police Commander Superintendent Kumpe Dieku Gbele reported that on June 17, around 9:30 PM, three armed individuals stormed the mobile shop, discharged firearms, and stole GH¢25,000 from the owner. 

The victim, Voguworun Gadafi, who also trades in agrochemicals, recognised Hamidu Muniru, who had visited the shop earlier that day. 

A police report led to Muniru’s arrest, who subsequently identified his three co-conspirators.

Presiding Judge Frederick Kaar Tiem ordered the four suspects to be held in police custody until their next court appearance on July 29.

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