Pakistani nationals arrested on suspicion of terrorism referred to Immigration headquarters
The seventeen Pakistani nationals arrested, on Thursday, at Assin Fosu in the Central Region upon suspicion of being terrorists have been referred to the national headquarters of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), for further checks.
This follows their release by the Central Regional Office of the GIS.
Mrs. Maud Anima Quainoo, the Central Regional Commander of the GIS, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the suspects were released upon the conviction that they did not pose any threat to national security.
Some youth at Assin Fosu reportedly arrested the Pakistanis upon a tip off that they were suspected terrorists and sent them to the Central Regional Police head office, at Cape Coast.
She said there was no cause for alarm because their passports and other relevant documents were all in the custody of the Ghana Immigration Service headquarters in Accra.
“When they told us that they were Muslim Missionaries invited by the National Chief Imam, we confirmed with the Office of the National Chief Imam and then we released them,” she said.
She said they were Muslim Missionaries who came into the country upon the invitation of the Nation Chief Imam, Sheikh Nuhu Sharubutu and not on that of the Ahmadis as was earlier reported.
She said the Pakistanis, whose names have been withheld for security reasons, came into the country with an emergency visa, which allowed them to stay for 30 days but they had applied for an extension, which was pending at the Headquarters of the GIS.
According to her, they entered the country on February 22, 2016 and first visited Obuasi in the Ashanti Region, before moving to the Central Region to continue with their mission of preaching and teaching the Islamic doctrine.
Mrs. Quainoo said this was not the first time some Pakistanis had come to the country with that mission, hence the reaction was the result of the current Al-Qaeda attacks in the Sub region.
She advised Ghanaians to continue to be security conscious and report any unusual incident to the Police or any nearby security agency, but they should not to take the law into their own hands.
In a related development, the Ahmadiyya Mission in Ghana has denied any connection with the group of Pakistani missionaries who have come to preach Islam in Ghana.
The Central-West Regional Missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Maulvi Abdul Nasir Bhatti, said though the Ahmadiyya Mission had some Pakistani missionaries in the country, they had defined roles and they were often engaged in assignments, which the Mission was always fully aware of.
He expressed surprise that the Mission was not called for confirmation about the presence of the said missionaries in the country.
Source: GNA