Abubakar Mustapha, aka Mallam Bawa, is in the grip of the Takoradi police for allegedly cutting off the finger of an 18-year-old boy, Abubakar Sadiq.
Mallam Bawa accused Sadiq of allegedly stealing a wall clock from an Islamic school at Collins Avenue, a suburb of Takoradi in the Western Region.
The mallam was arrested and sent to the police by some family members of the victim after efforts by the police to trace him had proved futile.
An elder brother of the victim, Shaibu Awudu, who confirmed the arrest, said they sent the suspect to the police station around 11:00 a.m. last Wednesday after the police had returned from his house to try to effect his arrest but failed to succeed.
He said he could not fathom why the mallam took the law into his hands and wondered whether he was trying to introduce the Sharia Law in Takoradi.
“When I saw the mallam, I asked why he refused to take my brother to the police station but decided to cut his finger and asked if Sharia Law has now been introduced in Takoradi,” he said.
Narrating his ordeal, Abubakar Sadiq, popularly known as Bin Laden, said he was returning from his brother’s house last Tuesday when some boys captured him, saying they had been instructed by the Islamic scholar to arrest him.
He said Mallam Bawa, together with his accomplices, tied him with an electric wire, placed his hand on a piece of wood and allegedly cut off the little finger on his right hand with a knife.
“They then dipped the wounded hand in hot oil,” he indicated.
He said he quickly reported the matter to the elder brother who together with other family members, in turn, reported the case to the Zongo chief.
The chief then summoned a meeting with the suspect who, according to the brother, admitted doing the act as a form of punishment to deter the boy from stealing.
He said the case was later reported to the Takoradi Central Police Station where he was issued a medical form to be sent to hospital.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that police investigations were underway and it was expected that Mallam Bawa would soon be arraigned.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
