The Senior Programmes Officer of the National Commission on Small and Light Weapons, Leonard Tettey, has said investigations are ongoing into the illegal shipment of pistols and ammunition to the Tema Port.
According to him, the Commission is collaborating with other agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.
“I can assure you that the investigations are being done strictly and being collaborated by various agencies and I can assure you that at the end of the day we will get the right results.”
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) made the seizure of the weapons which were concealed in personal effects made up of clothing, shoes and bags, among other items.
The authority in collaboration with some state authorities at the Tema Port impounded a 20-footer container containing 436 pistols, 26 packs of 50 pieces of ammunition, and one 40millimetre piece of pepper spray, that were illegally imported from Turkey into Ghana.
The Programs Officer stated that all agencies involved are performing specific tasks that will help investigations progress.
“The investigation of such issues requires different agencies coming together to play various roles. For instance, our role as a commission will be to do what we call the tracing which will allow us to establish which jurisdiction these weapons are coming from and the link and the route in which they got here. The police will be investigating personalities involved and trying to bring them to book. Our customs will be invested in how the whole thing was shipped, who was involved and what really went on,” he said.
He added that although sometimes people try to smuggle one or two arm pistols, this is the first time they have come across a quantum this large.
“Once in a while we get such occurrences but on a large scale like this, this is the first time we are seeing such illicit activity. But once in a while, we see this especially pistols being smuggled amongst personal effects which are normally detected by our security services.”
