MONROVIA, June 16 (LINA) – The Liberia National Police (LNP) has cautioned the Frontpage Africa Newspaper and other media outlets to be mindful in releasing reports on ongoing investigations to the public without doing due diligence to get all sides of the story.
The LNP notes that the report released on what happened at the Renaissance Hotel on Duport Road on Friday night is far beyond what was hastily reported by the Frontpage Africa.
In a statement the Police explained that an altercation ensued on Friday night between Martin Kollie and his supporters on one side, and some DEA officers and a senior staff of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. The case is currently being investigated.
“We would like to clarify that Martin Kollie was not arrested nor taken to any Police station or depot as was insinuated by some members of the public, especially on social media.
The public is urged to remain calm as the LNP Zone 5 Base investigators are speaking to and obtaining statements from all persons of interests, the Police said.
The LNP assured that a report will be released to the public on the outcome of this investigation early next week.
Meanwhile, members of the public and the media are advised to refrain from releasing information to the public outside of a Police report which could prejudice the outcome of an investigation.
It can be recalled that recently the Office of the Special Representative of the ECOWAS President in Liberia took exception to a Frontpage Africa report on a meeting held between the ECOWAS commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou and Liberian President George Weah relative to certain comments made during that meeting.
In a related development, a Police source told the Liberia News Agency that preliminary accounts indicated that the DEA officers while on their routine patrol heard noise from the Renaissance Club.
When they got on the scene to help calm the situation, the source said, Martin and his crew jumped on them and tore the shirt of the DEA Commander and uniform of one of the DEA officers.
The source added that because the group was so large, they were only able to arrest one person because Martin loyalists overwhelmed them.
But the source said concerned about the false information that Martin Kollie was arrested, the police have been combing its zones and depots to verify if Kollie was in their cells, an exercise that showed negative result about Martin Kollie being in police custody.
However, when the Zone 5 Commander visited Bishop Kollie on Sunday at his Wesleyan Church, the Bishop confirmed that his son, Martin Kollie, was well but is out of his (father’s) reach.
The Bishop, however, promised to turn him (Martin Kollie) over to Police tomorrow, the Police source told LINA.
