CCTV footage: What happened was traumatic – Bernard Avle details how Caleb’s arrest.

“What happened at the premises of Peace FM was traumatic for a lot of the staffs. It was serious”. These were the words of Mr. Bernard Avle, the General Manager of Citi FM and Television when he appeared on Metro Television’s Good Evening Ghana program.

The news of the arrest of Caleb Kudah, one of the fast-rising journalists with Citi FM and Television had gone viral on the evening of Tuesday, May 11, 2021.

Most Ghanaians were at a loss on what could have been the problem. In a few minutes, social media was discussing the arrest all over.

It was later revealed that Caleb was arrested at the premises of the National Security when he was caught taking a video of some vehicles parked in the compound.

It is still unknown the motive behind the video but the Security officers have argued that he did so without permission.

Caleb, after noticing danger in the video decided to play smart by forwarding his content to Zoe Abu-Baidoo, another journalist with Citi FM and Television.

Soon after Caleb was detained, the armed security officers drove to the premises of the station to grab Zoe Abu Baidoo. Their reason was that Zoe has the content of Caleb’s video so they wanted to delete it.

Benrad Avle with Paul Adom Otchere

“She said they want to arrest her and wants to speak to her boss first. I could see she was panicking. I got up and noticed about seven Policemen with guns. They had come into the building and walked probably about one hundred meters. So I stood up and asked the gentleman who was leading them what the matter was. Because everybody was wondering. One of their leaders said they are there to invite Zoe because her phone has a content they wanted”. Bernard Avle noted.

Caleb Kudah

At this point, the entire Citi FM and TV premises were gathering some onlookers who were close by. It was later realized that Caleb was in one of the pickups that entered the premises of the company in handcuffs. They had brought him to probably identify Zoe.

“So we said if you want Zoe, then you have to take all of us. We all drove to their premises with Zoe and Samens. Then we meet one of their bosses and admit sending them. Then he told us what Caleb had done at their premises. So we later found out that Caleb had gone there to take a picture of some cars that have been parked. We did not send him anyway. They said he has unlawfully filmed those things and sent the content to Zoe”. Bernard Avle Added.

(Footage 2 of how it happened)

Later, the National Security boss who was in charge apologized to the authorities of Citi FM and TV for how his men carried out the arrest.

“The national security boss apologized and said that is not how they intended to let the entire arrest go. What happened at Citi was serious. It was traumatic for a lot of the staff. So Caleb was released and we asked him to go and take a shower because he had spent around five hours there”. He added.