DAILY GRAPHIC

The Graphic reports in its lead story the arrest of a suspect in a bomb scare in Accra. Under a front page banner headline: "Recent bomb scare in Accra...Police Grab Suspect". the Graphic says the police yesterday busted one member of a gang suspected to be behind the recent bomb scare in some parts of Accra. The paper says the police in a swoop carried out in some parts of Accra after they had intercepted a faxed bomb scare message, arrested a Nigerian, Dr William Benson, 47, of Imo State who is alleged to have faxed bomb scare messages from a communication centre at North Kaneshie in Accra to some public institutions and individuals in the metropolis. Arrested together with Bwnson are two workers of the communication centre, Juliet Addo and Elizabeth Ackom, both 24. The two were picked from their office while Benson was arrested at his hide-out at the Majestic Hotel at North Kaneshie. Documents found on Benson indicate that he ddeals in illegal gold traffickking. Over the past few months there have been series of bomb scares targeted at some public buildings and big commercial houses in Accra, among which are the Supreme Court, Kotoka International Airport Pyramid House and Barclays Bank. GRI

"President in Edinburgh for C'wealth meeting", is the headline of another front page story which says President Jerry John Rawlings left Accra yesterday for Edinburgh, Scotland to attend the three-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which opens today. He was accompanied by the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Mr Victor Gbeho, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mr Victor Selormey, Deputy Minster of Finance. According to the Graphic President Rawlings and his entourage will pay an official visit to Germany after the CHOGM meeting at the invitation of the German government. GRI

In another front page story, the Graphic reports that an Indian businessman who illegally connected his telephone to another line and made calls which were billed to the accounts of another line, has been fined one million cedis by an Accra Circuit Tribunal. The Indian, Ramaman Karthek Narayanan, pleaded guilty to making the illegal calls amounting to 12.6 million cedis. He will go to prison for three months if he fails to pay the fine. GRI

The Graphic reports on its back page that a US-based oil and gas exploration firm, Nuevo Energy Company, has acquired petroleum rights covering over 2.7 million acres offshore in the Central basin south of Accra for oil and gas exploration. An agreement to this effect was signed yesterday between the government of Ghana and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on one hand and Nuevo on the other. Under the agreement, Nuevo will operate the block with 100 per cent working interest while the GNPC has an inital 10 per cent carried interest with options to increase its participation up to 25 per cent. GRI