Police Intercept Vehicle With Arms

The Abor Police in the Keta District of the Volta Region on Monday night intercepted an Opel Vectra saloon car on the Accra-Aflao highway with a consignment of arms and ammunition.

The vehicle, with registration number GW 7327 R, which was traveling from Accra to Lagos, was carrying 56 imported shotguns and nine action pump guns, which were concealed in sacks in the booth. The police managed to arrest Martin Nwaful, one of the two Nigerians on board the vehicle while the other, whose name was only given as Moses, managed to escape. The two Ghanaians suspected to have supplied the weapons to the Nigerians have also been arrested. They are Seth Akoto and Isaac Owusu.

Superintendent Kwadwo Oware, Special Operations Assistant to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), who disclosed this in Accra on Thursday, said the arrests followed a tip-off. The suspects are in police custody. He said when the police intercepted the car on a portion of the road between Abor and Akatsi, Moses fled the scene leaving Nwaful behind.

Superintendent Oware said during interrogation, Nwaful admitted that they were fire-arms dealers, who often bought weapons from a shop at the Tudu market in Accra for resale in Nigeria. The suspect gave the shop owner’s name as Ofori and later led a team of policemen to the shop. He said Ofori was at that time not in the shop, which is not licensed to deal in arms and ammunition. However, Akoto and Owusu, who were in the shop as attendants, were arrested after a thorough search in the shop revealed one bullet pouch, three rifle slings, 13 packets of cartridges as well as a big box containing various cartridges.

An amount of ?7.2 million was found in the shop, he added. Superintendent Oware quoted Nwaful as saying that they usually bought one shotgun for ?1 million from Ofori and resold it for 25,000 Naira in the Onitsha Market in Nigeria. He said a search has been mounted for the two fugitives.