Ghana police seize big haul of illegal weapons
Ghana police seize big haul of illegal weapons
Reuters Africa, 15 Dec 2015
URL: http://af.reuters.com/article/nigerNews/idAFL8N1444FC20151215
ACCRA Dec 15 (Reuters) - Authorities in Ghana have seized a large illegal weapons cache including assault rifles and anti-aircraft ammunition, but police said on Tuesday it was unlikely they were meant for a specific militant or rebel group.
The police detained a 63-year-old man from Niger in a raid in Ghana's second city of Kumasi on Saturday and charged him with unauthorized possession of weapons, said police spokesman Yusif Tanko.
He described the seizure as the biggest in living memory in Ghana, a stable democracy whose capital, Accra, has sub-Saharan Africa's lowest crime rate, according to a study published this year.
"Our investigation does not point to any terrorist organisation linked to them. They started selling the arms to petty criminals. If they were meant for something big they would not be selling them to petty criminals in the market," Tanko said.
It was more likely that the weapons dated from one of the many armed conflicts to have blighted the region in recent decades and their owners were seeking to cash in by selling them in other countries, he said.
It was believed that some weapons were simply being sold locally as they transited through Ghana, Tanko said, and police made other arrests in Kumasi of criminals who purchased both arms and ammunition from the suspect.
The weapons seized in the initial raid included 11 AK-47s, four G3 assault rifles, handguns and a light machine gun as well as large quantities of assorted ammunition. (Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Joe Bavier and Tom Heneghan)
The police detained a 63-year-old man from Niger in a raid in Ghana's second city of Kumasi on Saturday and charged him with unauthorized possession of weapons, said police spokesman Yusif Tanko.
He described the seizure as the biggest in living memory in Ghana, a stable democracy whose capital, Accra, has sub-Saharan Africa's lowest crime rate, according to a study published this year.
"Our investigation does not point to any terrorist organisation linked to them. They started selling the arms to petty criminals. If they were meant for something big they would not be selling them to petty criminals in the market," Tanko said.
It was more likely that the weapons dated from one of the many armed conflicts to have blighted the region in recent decades and their owners were seeking to cash in by selling them in other countries, he said.
It was believed that some weapons were simply being sold locally as they transited through Ghana, Tanko said, and police made other arrests in Kumasi of criminals who purchased both arms and ammunition from the suspect.
The weapons seized in the initial raid included 11 AK-47s, four G3 assault rifles, handguns and a light machine gun as well as large quantities of assorted ammunition. (Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Joe Bavier and Tom Heneghan)