The Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoa, has indicated that most of the armed robberies in Ghana are carried out by foreigners from other West African countries.
He explained that due to the free movement of persons within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, all manner of persons enter Ghana to carry out various activities including robberies.
He was commenting on the recent robber cases that have plagued some parts of the country especially Accra on the ‘Pae Muka’ show on Onua FM.
“It is not only Ghanaians who are involved in this, foreigners are part of it. There are others from other countries because it is easy to move within the West African sub region,” he said.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that the borders may have been porous, a situation that may be giving rise to the influx of criminals in Ghana, the former lawmaker for Adentan said “Security has gone beyond just the borders, it has to do with scaling up intelligence gathering and also the use of sophisticated gadgets to fight crimes.”
He further explained that although the Police and other security agencies are there to provide security, individuals must also take their personal safety seriously.
Security is shared responsibility between the security agencies and the people, he said.
Therefore, he added, the people must assist the Police with information on crime related activities that they may have chanced upon for further actions to be taken on them.
Without that, he said, the police cannot be able to gather all the intelligence on their own.
“You will have to be vigilant and be watchful. In case you see any suspicious activity inform the police. If you leave your own security in the hands of one person to do it for you, it will be difficult.
“In every country Police and security rely on informants for information on crimes to deal with the, we have to learn from that.”
The Ghana Police Service on Monday September 27 arrested one Bukari Salifu, who is said to have provided weapons to armed robbers for their expeditions.
Bukari Salifu, 65, was arrested over the weekend following police intelligence.
Prior to his arrest, two suspected robbers who had been arrested when they attempted to rob motorists along the Koluedor-Sege-Accra road had mentioned Bukari Salifu as the one who provides them with weapons for their robberies.
But while ostensibly taking the police to the man, the two rather took the crime-combat team to a bush full of other armed robbers.
“There, the police came under fire as the suspects attempted to escape,” a press release signed by Acting Director-General of Public Affairs ACP Kwesi Ofori on Monday, September 27 noted.
The suspected armed robbers were shot in the process and were rushed to the Police Hospital, where they died.
They are Joseph Dagodzo and Mujahid Abubakar, alias Sule. Their bodies have been deposited at the Police Hospital morgue.