Too many illegal guns in the wrong hands

The New Publisher commends the Ghana Police Service for the recent arrests of armed criminals across the country and the sustained determination to rid our society of criminals both armed and unarmed.

However, truth be told, there still exist a large number of guns of all sorts in the system and it is scary that they are in the wrong hands of dangerous humans.

Without a deliberate and sustained united citizens’ support, the Ghana Police Service alone would be unable to purge our society of these armed evil souls.

As a country, we have done well in getting citizens to participate in the anti-terrorism ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign where a toll free number 999, has been made available for the reporting of anything that looks like suspected terrorist maneuverings.

We wish the campaign is stretched to capture all manner of suspicious activities, including neighbours and friends who have guns that may not have been legally registered.

Strangely, the guns in question are not only locally manufactured ones; they include rather sophisticated guns that makes one wonder how they got into wrong hands.

Last week, the Ghana Police Service reported that it had arrested seven suspected robbers in the Western Region. A pump action gun, 7 AAA live ammunitions and a spent cartridge were retrieved from them.

Two weeks ago, the Eastern Regional Police Command was on the heels of a gang of six armed robbers who had shot two persons at a mining facility at Asamang Tamfoe. The Police, in that incident, retrieved from the robbers one AK 47 Assault Rifle, two magazines loaded with twenty- four (24) rounds of ammunition, one python revolver pistol, eight (8) BB live cartridges, nine (9) gold nuggets and some cash amount.

Last month, the Police arrested six robbery suspects in the Greater Accra and Central Regions and once again items retrieved from them were one (1) locally manufactured gun, one (1) foreign pistol, a cache of ammunition and some suspected stolen items.
Last two months, on Thursday April 7, the Northern Regional Police Command grabbed one Mohammed Iddi alias “Water” with six (6) new foreign made ‘9mm Calibre Bruni 92’ pistols.

Last three months, Sunday March 6, the Accra Regional Police Command arrested one suspect while pursuing five other suspects for the murder of a 42-year-old man identified as Joshua Lartey, the Oshipi of Ashalaja, near Amasaman believed to have been shot in his car while he was on his way home.
A search conducted in the house of the suspects led to the retrieval of two pump-action guns, one G3 weapon, one revolver and one cap gun from a locked room.

In that same week, four days before the arrest, the Ashanti Regional Police Anti-Robbery Squad during an intelligence-led operation engaged a group of five robbers who had blocked the road from Abodom – Koniyaw, near Bekwai with wooden logs to rob some market women.
Exhibits retrieved from the scene included three pump action guns all loaded with AAA live ammunitions and 30 spare AAA ammunitions.

The New Publisher can cite several other similar reports of arrested suspects with illegal guns in their custody.

These evil souls with intention to commit crime reside among us. As a people, the least we can do is to be proactive and report them to the law enforcement agencies.

The ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign goes beyond reporting unknown persons and aliens. Everyone can be a suspect and we need to watch out for the signs.