I Was Handcuffed And Driven To BNI Like A Criminal – Editor

The Editor of the Daybreak newspaper, Mr. Prince Prah, has been explaining how he was hauled by operatives of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to their Regional Headquarters at Ridge to substantiate his claims against the presidency and the military.The publication by the Daybreak newspaper on Tuesday, March 15 alleged that President Mills has asked the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lieutenant General Peter Augustine Blay, to proceed on leave, ostensibly as a prelude to sacking himDaybreak claimed reliable sources close to the National Security Secretariat and Castle have hinted that the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Peter Augustine Blay (GH /1398) is to be retired very soon via a release signed by the Secretary to the President.Originally, Major General Carl Sena Modey (GH/1434) was penciled for the job after he was not elevated to the status of Force Commander in Liberia as he had been the Deputy Force Commander since 10th July 2008 and was posted to head the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to pave way for others. Major General Modey would be re-called soon to take over as the next CDS, according to the publication.But Government in a statement released on Wednesday March 16, denied the report saying the President had no such intentions for the CDS. Mr. Prah was subsequently picked up by the BNI for interrogation.Narrating the incident in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on PeaceFMs Kokrokoo, Mr. USMLE practice . Prah said that he received a call on Wednesday from a gentleman who introduced himself as Isaac Mensah claiming to have a story for him. The gentleman claimed the story was hot and he (Prah) needed to have a look at it.Initially, I asked the person to come to my office, but he insisted that once I was in town, we should meet. So we agreed on a venue and when he came he showed me his ID card and said he had been asked to invite me (Prah) by his boss to the BNI. I told him that since it was an invitation, he should tell his superiors that I will honour it tomorrow (Thursday), so I was quite busy at the moment. The gentleman flatly refused and surprisingly told me that I was under arrest and thereupon called two other guys and a driver to pick me up. I was then handcuffed and roughly shoved into a car and driven straight to the BNI headquarters at Ridge where I was detained for some time, he said.He further recounted that upon reaching the offices of the BNI, his personal effects including his mobile phones were confiscated, but not before he managed to send an SOS message to a close pal in the media about his predicament.I sat down for some two to three hours without any form of communication before a BNI official who gave his name as Pius and claimed to be the Head of Operations at the Regional Office came and began interrogating me, he revealed.According the Editor of the Daybreak newspaper, his request for the presence of his lawyer during questioning was flatly turned down.I also refused to answer their questions and gave no comment to all their questionsThey wanted to find out the source of my story, whether I was aware that the publication was wrong and untrueI simply refused to give them answers,Prince Prah claims he was released around 9:30pm, after he was made to write his statement.Sefa Kayi then sought to find out from him why the recent spotlight on the Security agencies in his publications, to which he replied; I think the system is not working right. There are things going on (in the security service) that is not right and as I journalist I believe its my responsibility to talk about the happenings in the service, he said.Pressed further as to whether he cross-checked the story before publishing, Prince Prah said, no comment”.Source: Peacefm