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What was supposed to be a routine duty-check being undertaken by some police personnel of suspected contraband in a truck on Thursday afternoon, almost turned into a nasty brawl and a showdown of bravado, between its military occupants and the police officers at post.

The military officer, in a fit of rage, is reported to have given one of the police personnel on duty, a hefty slap that nearly lifted the victim off his feet.

The incident is said to have occured at the Fiesta Royale Hotel traffic light intersection at about 3pm.

An eyewitness to the whole incident told UTV News team that the police, in the performance of their duty stopped the truck upon a tip-off that it was transporting undeclared goods.

Ordinarily, the military was not prepared to submit to a search by the police.

The driver of the truck and its occupants refused to comply with an order to have the vehicle combed through, with the explanation that they were only carting away timber logs.

The witness further narrated that the police officer on duty,  who believed otherwise, held strongly that it contained ammunition and insisted on undertaking a thorough check of the contents of the truck.

As a result, he recounted, a confrontation ensued culminating in the military officer allegedly dishing out the hefty slap to the police officer.

As the scuffle escalated, according to the witness, several police officers drawn from the counter-terrorism unit who had perhaps been alerted of the incident, stormed the scene; heightening matters.

But the timely arrival of a team of military-police personnel, saved what was gradually turning out to be a tensed and explosive situation.

Chief Supt. Kwame Ali, Commander of the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the Ghana Police Service, who later spoke to some media practitioners that had gathered at the scene after the incident had died down, tried to assuage the fears of all concerned.

He, however, pointed out as security personnel, irrespective of which unit one is attached to and their differences, the "ultimate aim is to protect the state and its citizenry",  and to also "ensure that no one takes the law into his or her own hands".