Ambrose Dery, Minister of the Interior, has stated that the Police Administration would soon build a firing range to teach all personnel who have been licenced to use guns.
He said that the training will also be provided to members of the police force, the Ghana Immigration Service, and other government agencies.
He promised that unlicensed gun owners will face the full force of the law.
He mentioned this in a talk with media on Tuesday, August 1, while praising the police for apprehending the alleged thieves who ambushed a bullion truck in Ablekuma and murdered an officer.
“I want to thank the public, the public has greater confidence in the Police now and they are collaborating by giving information to get to the bottom of those things.
“You do know that we have started registration of arms even for the security agencies, we have done it for the Police, we have done it for immigration. we continue to do that.
“The Police are very soon going to open a shooting range where they will train all those given permission. Those who have not been given permission would be dealt with according to law,” he said.
Gyebi Asante, Deputy Director of the National Commission on Small Weaponry and Light Weapons, recently stated that the porous nature of Ghana’s borders was contributing to the spread of illicit weaponry in the nation.
According to Mr Asante, crises in surrounding nations are causing weapons to be transported into the country through porous borders.
Speaking on the Ghana Tonight broadcast on TV3 on Thursday, July 27, he also mentioned conflict entrepreneurs who are funding illicit weaponry.
“You see the kind of weapons our youth are using, you wonder where these weapons are coming from. You realize that, especially in the North where we have some of these conflicts, they are close to the borders and looking at how porous our borders are, that is how some of these sophisticated weapons manage to get into the country,” he said.
He added “What we realized is that these weapons are not weapons that these young guys buy themselves.
“We realized that with some of the conflict it looks like we have some conflict entrepreneurs, we have some people who are in this conflict because of some interest that they have.”
His remarks follow the arrest of 14 individuals on July 25, 2023, in connection with a confrontation that resulted in the death of two people at Mpameso Forest near Dormaa Ahenkro in the Bono Region, and the recovery of their firearms.
Hafiz Mohammed, Fuseini Mohammed, Abass Abukari, Alhassan Razak, Fuseini Shaibu, Addai Gyebi, Abubakari Issahaku, Seidu Sulemana, Kwabena Yeboah, Sulley Alhassan, Enoch Opoku, Ibrahim Issah, Obeng Richard, and Ibrahim Adams are among those named as suspects.
According to a police inquiry, the two deceased men were shot following a conflict while protecting a wood concession in Mpameso Forest.
Following their detention, they were subjected to a search that yielded eight (8) pump-action firearms, a cutlass, and a dagger.
All accused are presently being held in police custody to aid with the investigation and will appear in court today, July 27, 2023, to face justice.
