The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has appealed to the general public to alert the appropriate authorities when they come across any suspicious or strange-looking objects.
The Director of Ordinance Services, Colonel Samuel Ampeh made the call at a press conference in Burma Camp on the Tema Community 5 bomb explosion on July 28.
He said the 100mm HE Shell found after the explosion is believed to have being embedded in soil collected from the Sakumono Lagoon vicinity, to fill a fish pond project which was discontinued in the early 1980s.
Mr. Ampeh said the Sakumono Lagoon area was used to destroy munitions during the late sixties after the 1966 coup adding that the shell, which contains powerful explosives, could be part of such munition.
"The High Explosive Shell which is made up of cast iron and filled with TNT, a high explosive used in munition was badly corroded with rust, an indication that the shell has been buried in the soil for over 30 years."
He said this type of ammunition is not on the inventory of the Ghana Armed Forces, adding that the general area stretching from the Tema Harbour through Communities 2,3,5 and Sakumono was once an ammunition dump during the Second World War. Probably, the shell could also be part of the munition used during that war.
The director said damage to property was minimal because there was only partial explosion. He hinted that there might still be some unexploded munition buried underground at the area of Sakumono, and Tema Communities 2, 3 and 5. He said "it is essential that the public is warned not to handle any strange or suspicious object found around these areas but to report for appropriate action to be taken."
The Acting Director of the Public Relations Directorate, Lt. Col. E.W.K. Nibo answering questions from the press said the Ghana Armed Forces is fully equipped to handle such incidents.
