Nimba County — -In execution of Search Warrant
A 20-year-old man has been shut and several others hospitalized, including a police officer and an employee of ArcelorMittal after an attack by angry citizens resisting enforcement of a search warrant in Nimba County.
The aggrieved citizens of Zolowee town along the Sanniqullie -Yekepa route in Electoral District Two, Nimba went on the offense during execution of a Search Warrant issued by the Yekepa Magisterial Court on several homes in the town for missing assets that belong to ArcelorMittal Liberia.
Several homes were destroyed during the riot as Police teargassed angry mob, leaving one Police officer and a private guard of the Security Expert Guard Agency of Liberia (SEGAL) injured, while 20-year-old Anthony was Saye shot and several persons hospitalized.
Town completely empty after the attack
Victim Anthony Saye has been referred to the JFK Hospital in Monrovia for proper medication.
It was not immediately established who discharged live weapon during the riot that led to Saye being shot.
But speaking to The NEW DAWN, the Youth Chairman of Zolowee, Hilton Nya Suah, narrated that the incident started on Thursday night, July 27 after officers from the Police Support Unit (PSU) of the Liberia National Police detachment in Yekepa, Nimba County barricaded several homes.
Suah disclosed that next day, Friday, July 28, the Police delivered a search warrant from the Yekepa Magisterial Court to the town chief to conduct a search in some homes.
According to him, the Police requested some representatives of the town to form part of the search team during which several drums and gallons of fuel, yellow machine parts, and batteries, among others, were said to belong to ArcelorMittal were confiscated.
Eyewitnesses said as the PSU officers left the scene following the search and seizer, some angry residents attacked the Police, destroyed their vehicle and wounded one officer, who is receiving medication currently at ArcelorMittal hospital in Yekepa along with one employee of the company.
Police have arrested about eight people, who are being interrogated in Camp Four, Yekepa in connection with the riot.
Some residents of the town, who witnessed the incident told this paper that they saw huge police presence in their community that began beating them up and discharging tear gas.
According to community leader, Erasnus Tokpah, Cynthia Zezah, Rancy S. Lablah and Colestine Messah, the Police took the alleged action without providing any reason.
They said following the Police action, they were constrained to escape into the bush where they slept.
The NEW DAWN gathered that there had been report of disappearance of huge quantity of fuel after gang attacks on ArcelorMittal Liberia's mines at Tokadeh that left several company properties vandalized.
Assets destroyed include yellow machines, batteries, lights, vehicles with license plates: 29Y, 56Y, 205Y, and 10Y, a police vehicle alongside a SEGAL vehicle and a system unit used by the company to prepare ores before they are transported to Buchanan port, Grand Bassa County for export.
The violence that started Friday at 5:30 pm at the Tokadeh mine paralyzed normal operations, causing employees, mostly expatriates to leave for Monrovia.
The level of damages inflicted may cause the company to not carry out mining activities in the next six to ten months, some observers said.
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According to report, some senior staffers and workers of the mine connived with some unscrupulous business people, supported by some citizens of Zolowee to steal fuel oil from the mine for sale.
Recently, the Management of ArcelorMittal Liberia dismissed ten operators from the mines for their involvement in fuel oil theft.
A statement issued by the management, confirmed that on 28 July 2023, its Tokadeh Mines were attacked by a group of individuals carrying arms and machetes.
Management said the gang ransacked and damaged valuable mining assets, including vehicles and other equipment, but the Police responded swiftly and restored calm.
The statement added that the Ministries of Justice and National Defense were also contacted for a full investigation into the attack on its operations and the prosecution of those involved.
