The Northern Regional Police Command is closing-in on the owner of the BMW Saloon car in which an AK47 riffle and a magazine were found in Yendi on Tuesday afternoon.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mahama Arhin, Northern Regional Crime Officer, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Wednesday, said records indicated that the owner of the vehicle was a resident of Nanton in the Savelugu/Nanton District of the Northern Region.
DSP Arhin declined to give details of the identity of the owner of the vehicle but gave the assurance that the Regional Police Command would in due course effect his arrest.
Narating the incident, DSP Arhin told the GNA that, the police received information on Tuesday, April 24 that a wine-coloured BMW Saloon car in Yendi town with registration number AS 5717 X was carrying weapons.
He said around 12:57 GMT on the Tuesday, the police spotted the vehicle and stopped it but the driver sped-off, making the police to pursue the car.
He said the driver drove straight into the Gbewaa Palace, adding, when the police moved in to arrest the two occupants on-board the vehicle, a group of people from the palace pounced on the police and prevented the arrest, thus enabling the occupants of the car to escape.
He said at the time of the incident, the Regent of Dagbon was said to be holding a meeting with some chiefs of the Dagbon Kingdom in Yendi.
He said the police, however, succeeded in retrieving the gun with a magazine and two mobile phones.
He said the police upon instruction drove the car to the Northern Regional Police Headquarters in Tamale and opened investigations into the incident.
DSP Arhin alleged that, politicians had been putting pressure on the police in the Region to release the BMW car at the centre of the incident.
He said such interferences were unhealthy for effective policing in the Region.
Yendi in recent weeks, had been witnessing some tension, the latest being the misunderstanding that ensued last Friday, April 20, 2012, between two rival factions over the enskinment of a chief, which led to the death of a man in a shooting incident that ensued.**
