The Sunyani Police at the weekend raided the Bunso Cottage, near Mampong in Ashanti, and arrested four blacksmiths believed to be supplying arms to armed robbers operating in the Brong Ahafo Region and other parts of the country.
They were named as Fuseini Sisala, 40, Kwaku Badu, 28, Kwasi Nkrumah, 20, and Emmanuel Kofi Asaah, 15. The fifth accomplice, Godwin Aduamah, said to won the blacksmith shop, escaped on seeing the police. At the time of their arrest, nine single-barrel butts, five single barrel guns, 15 nozzles of S.B. Short guns, a locally manufactured pistal, and a large quantity of assorted blacksmith tools were in their possession.
The police were led to the workshop by Alhassan Iddrisu, a highway robber, who was arrested together with others at Techiman, in a recent operation by the police. Iddrisu was arrested with Kuzupiew Alubeh, a Burkinabe and three women, Apika Kava, Amina Apoubire and Monica Kesewaah.
The four gun makers were on Monday arraigned before a circuit court in Sunyani, charged with conspiracy to commit crime, manufacturing and transferring of five arms without authority. They pleaded not guilty and the court, presided over by Mr Justice Erasmus Gyinae, remanded them in prison custody until 2 July.
According to ASP Alex Yartey Tawiah, who prosecuted, the workshop was established clandestinely for the purpose of manufacturing firearms for armed robbers. In 1998, Sisala sold one S.B. short gun to Iddrisu Alhassan, which was used in a highway robbery.
ASP Yartey-Tawiah said that when Iddrisu was interrogated following his arrest, he mentioned the owner of the workshop as their source of supply of weapons and agreed to take the police to the site. ASP Yartey Tawiah said the police were still investigating the case as they believed the accused belonged to a syndicate.
