Liberia: Man Arrested for Attempting to Self-Immolate

A 31-year-old man named Lincoln Tweah has been arrested for attempting to set himself ablaze on the grounds of the Supreme Court of Liberia.

Lincoln's action, according to the report, came as a result of the alleged refusal of Liberia National Police to release L$154,000 and US$300, which was seized from him on November 15.

When the police allegedly refused, Tweah went to the Supreme Court to carry out his planned action in protest against the alleged action of the police.

However,  judicial officers responded quickly after receiving a call from a Tweah, who was “threatening to light himself on fire, was going to kill himself, waste gasoline on himself and tried to light it when he was prevented by the officers from doing so,” the report said.

During the incident, judicial officers on duty found Tweah in the middle of the Temple of Justice compound setting his clothes on fire. The suspect was reported not to be intoxicated, but also not cooperating with authorities after they stopped his suicide attempt.

While trying to detain Tweah, the judicial officer's report stated that the suspect started wasting gasoline on other officers, and was still attempting to light himself on fire. After several attempts by the officers, they were successful in subduing Tweah and subsequently had him handcuffed before moving him to the headquarters of the Liberia National Police.

The unfortunate incident occurred when the police arrested Tony Beh, after Tweah complained that Beh had seized a plastic bag that contained the L$154,000 and US$300, according to police spokesman Moses Carter.

After Tweah’s complaint, Carter said, the police lead investigator, Rafell Wilson, ordered the immediate arrest of Beh, which the police with the help of Tweah. Carter further explained that when Beh was arrested, he brought the plastic bag of money, but the actual amount there was L$54,000 and US$300, which account Tweah refused to accept, leading to his decision to set himself ablaze.

According to Carter, during the investigation, Tweah brought with him two ladies, whose Identities were not disclosed, to authenticate his ownership of the money. Unfortunately, Carter said, the women did not provide any documentation to support Tweah’s claims that they were some of the members of his daily susu club, who were some of the beneficiaries of the money, making it difficult for the police to release the money to Tweah.

Before involving the police, Tweah went to his usual pool game with the plastic bag of money.

When he got there, he met Beh, who Tweah had known to operate a money exchanger business. It was when Tweah gave the plastic bag of money to Beh to have the Liberian dollars converted to US dollars.

During the process, Beh refused to give Tweah his money on grounds that Tweah was a criminal, and he had stolen the money, of which Beh needed Tweah to prove that the money was owed by him, Tweah, which refusal led Tweah to report the matter to the headquarters of the LNP.

Up to the present time, Tweah was still being detained at the LNP headquarters and had no information about the actual amount of the money.