A movie crew of 11 were arrested at dawn yesterday (July
23) for allegedly causing fear and panic during the shooting
of a television series on the Spintex Road in Accra.
The crew, comprising five women and six men, including a
popular Nigerian actor, Hanks Anuku, were said to have
fired gunshots indiscriminately about 3 a.m. yesterday.
The other members of the crew were George Adu Badoo,
Joseph Heisk, Ivy Bentum, Adjetey Roberts, Eluheaka
Mensah, Arhin Wakila, Mary Acheampong, Emmanuel
Anumaka, Charles Roger Beckly and Sherrif Sandy Brown.
They allegedly blocked the road between the Fidelity Bank
and Stanchart Bank on the Spintex Road, while a
motorcyclist chased a car.
Panicky motorists who called the Police Control Room
through the emergency numbers had mistaken the crew for
a gang of armed robbers who had blocked the road and
were attacking road users.
Briefing journalists yesterday, the Accra Regional Police
Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr
Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said the police control room
received a series of phone calls that a gang of armed
robbers who had blocked a section of the road were firing
and robbing motorists and other road users on the Spintex
Road.
He said some residents of the area who suspected it was a
robbery attack on the two banks hid under their beds and
other places they considered safe in their homes while they
called the police for help.
“Most motorists who were using that stretch of road, upon
hearing the loud command of “Stop! Stop! Stop!”, sensed
danger and quickly reversed, causing a lot of chaos on the
Spintex Road.
“A patrol team was quickly dispatched to the scene, only to
ascertain that the supposed gang was a crew of a movie
production company known as Rabell Entertainment,” he
said.
He said the police found that the crew members were using
a shotgun, fire crackers, two rubber-made pistols and toy
machine guns to shoot a movie without any lawful permit.
By their act, Mr Yohuno said, they wilfully obstructed public
way and hindered the free passage of any other person or,
as well as caused fear to members of that community.
According to him, the use of the fire crackers was an
offence, as there was a ban on the firing of fire crackers
and similar explosives.
“More importantly, if care was not taken by the police, there
could have been exchange of fire which could have led to
the death of many because what the police witnessed on
arrival portrayed a robbery operation,” he said.
Although the police were not against film-making because
of the enormous role the industry played in society, he said,
they would not tolerate acts that were likely to occasion the
breach of peace, endanger public defence, and safety or
cause public fear and panic.
Similarly, he stated that if such activities were not
discouraged, any group of persons under the same modus
operandi could pretend to be acting a movie but would end
up committing robbery.
He, therefore, advised movie production companies to seek
the necessary police permit, protection and presence
whenever their scripts required the staging of violent
scenes, especially in public places, to avoid any mishaps or
cause fear to the public.
At the Accra Regional Command, three of the women who
had been arrested with the crew wept uncontrollably as they
tried to explain that they were not criminals.
They said they had been recruited to shoot a movie about
night life and were not engaged in any criminal act.
Later in an interview, one of the directors of Rabell
Entertainment, Billy Jane, admitted that the crew had not
obtained permit for staging the violent scene which was
part of a three-year television series titled: “Late Night
Scenes”, which was scheduled to run on a number of
television stations in Ghana soon.
She explained that the crew had earlier shot some scenes in
a club and were returning home when they decided to stage
one of the scenes on the street.
She said the company had always sought the assistance of
the police any time it shot a movie which required permit or
protection from the law enforcement agencies.
“We are sorry. It was an oversight. I am sure it will not
happen again,”she pleaded.
Credit: pulse news.
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