LTHE PRIVATE hostel where the two kidnapped Canadian women were lodging prior to their abduction has been closed down for operating illegally.
Officials of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in the
Ashanti Region, assisted by police, yesterday locked up the hostel, which has
not registered to provide accommodation in accordance with the law.
The Ashanti Regional Manager of the GTA, Peter Theophilus
Acheampong, said the facility does not meet the requirements of LI
2238 and 2239 that talk about how enterprises in the accommodation, food
beverage and entertainment industry can operate.
He warned members of the public not to patronise the
services of the hostel since it has several security breaches, including lack
of CCTV cameras and a security guard to protect and safeguard patrons.
Police Hopeful
Police in the Ashanti Region remain hopeful in solving one
of the region’s most notorious kidnapping involving two Canadian female
students on a youth development programme in the country after a visit by the
Inspector-General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu, and some foreign security
experts.
Lauren Patricia Catherine Tilley, 19, and
Bailey Jordan Chitty, 20, were abducted on June 4, 2019, in Kumasi while
returning to their hostel from a youth development programme organised by Youth
Challenge International.
Despite a huge manhunt and the help from the Canadian High
Commission and other security experts, the two ladies have still not been located
or their captors caught, seven days on.
But the police are confident the students,
who were working
as volunteers in Ghana for the international
development organisation, will be found and reunited with their
families.
Last Tuesday, at the Asokwa Four-Junction area, Lauren, Bailey and a third person told their
colleagues they were going to their hostel at Nhyiaeso around the Royal Gulf
Club.
Their colleagues and friends never saw them again, with
their disappearance sparking one of the biggest police operations in Kumasi
against the backdrop of recent kidnappings in the country.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the next few days, cars were
stopped at police checkpoints in the night, and law enforcement officers
searched places to see if the abductors and the captives could be found.
It is not clear who is responsible for kidnappings, which have become frequent lately amid tensions between police and the National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, over his leaked tape about calculated plans to kidnap people to make the government unpopular.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi
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