Police impound arms cache, Wednesday, January 11, 2012, Front Page
The Greater Accra Regional Police Command Tuesday impounded a Nigeria-bound truck loaded with a cache of arms and several boxes of ammunition.
A MAN Diesel truck with the Nigerian licence plate number XA 761-YAB and branded in Coca-Cola colours, was impounded at Achimota in Accra, together with five suspects, including two Nigerians.
The vehicle, together with the five suspects — Kofi Aboagye, 52; Sunday Eze, 38, a Nigerian from the Anambra State; Kwesi Asamoah, 29; Kojo Boafo, 38, the owner of the arms, and Samuel Amosu Taiwo, another Nigerian from the Ogun State — was arrested and sent to the Accra Central Police Station.
When the Daily Graphic got to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters, police officers were offloading the arms from the truck. The truck had what looked like a compartment, with sheets of metal plate covering the ammunition.
A crowd had gathered at the entrance of the Accra Regional Police Headquarters to catch a glimpse of the suspects and the ammunition, while a pool of the cartridges had been displayed in the office of the Regional Commander where media men were taking shots of it, with the morose-looking suspects looking on.
Briefing the media, the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Atinga-Bio, said about 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Accra Regional Police Command received a tip-off that a Coca-Cola-branded vehicle was discharging items suspected to be stolen goods at Achimota.
The police, she stated, dispatched a team there and found the vehicle parked near an uncompleted building and, on examination of the vehicle, it was found to be empty.
“The police were suspicious of the location and carried out a thorough search inside the vehicle and discovered that there was a plate covering the base of the vehicle.
They then removed the metal plate and found a large quantity of AA and BB cartridges and pump action and double-barrelled guns concealed there, with the suspects on board,” she said.
While pump-action guns, also called 'slide action repeating shotguns' or 'slide action shotguns' are a class of shotguns that are distinguished in the way in which spent shells are extracted and fresh ones chambered, double-barrelled shotguns, on the other hand, are guns with the barrels tilting up at the rear to expose the breech ends of the barrels for unloading and reloading, since there is no reciprocating action needed to eject and reload the shells
The Regional Police Commander said upon interrogation, the suspects confirmed that all the items were Nigeria bound.
All the suspects, she said, were in custody, while investigations continued, after which they would be arraigned at the appropriate time.
With Nigeria caught up in sectarian violence and demonstrations over recent fuel price hikes, it is not immediately known if the arms were meant to fuel the conflict in that country.
But DCOP Atinga-Bio said investigations would establish whether the arms were bought in Ghana or in transit.
“For now, we cannot speculate on where the arms are from,” she stated.
A MAN Diesel truck with the Nigerian licence plate number XA 761-YAB and branded in Coca-Cola colours, was impounded at Achimota in Accra, together with five suspects, including two Nigerians.
The vehicle, together with the five suspects — Kofi Aboagye, 52; Sunday Eze, 38, a Nigerian from the Anambra State; Kwesi Asamoah, 29; Kojo Boafo, 38, the owner of the arms, and Samuel Amosu Taiwo, another Nigerian from the Ogun State — was arrested and sent to the Accra Central Police Station.
When the Daily Graphic got to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters, police officers were offloading the arms from the truck. The truck had what looked like a compartment, with sheets of metal plate covering the ammunition.
A crowd had gathered at the entrance of the Accra Regional Police Headquarters to catch a glimpse of the suspects and the ammunition, while a pool of the cartridges had been displayed in the office of the Regional Commander where media men were taking shots of it, with the morose-looking suspects looking on.
Briefing the media, the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Atinga-Bio, said about 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Accra Regional Police Command received a tip-off that a Coca-Cola-branded vehicle was discharging items suspected to be stolen goods at Achimota.
The police, she stated, dispatched a team there and found the vehicle parked near an uncompleted building and, on examination of the vehicle, it was found to be empty.
“The police were suspicious of the location and carried out a thorough search inside the vehicle and discovered that there was a plate covering the base of the vehicle.
They then removed the metal plate and found a large quantity of AA and BB cartridges and pump action and double-barrelled guns concealed there, with the suspects on board,” she said.
While pump-action guns, also called 'slide action repeating shotguns' or 'slide action shotguns' are a class of shotguns that are distinguished in the way in which spent shells are extracted and fresh ones chambered, double-barrelled shotguns, on the other hand, are guns with the barrels tilting up at the rear to expose the breech ends of the barrels for unloading and reloading, since there is no reciprocating action needed to eject and reload the shells
The Regional Police Commander said upon interrogation, the suspects confirmed that all the items were Nigeria bound.
All the suspects, she said, were in custody, while investigations continued, after which they would be arraigned at the appropriate time.
With Nigeria caught up in sectarian violence and demonstrations over recent fuel price hikes, it is not immediately known if the arms were meant to fuel the conflict in that country.
But DCOP Atinga-Bio said investigations would establish whether the arms were bought in Ghana or in transit.
“For now, we cannot speculate on where the arms are from,” she stated.
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