Sammi Awuku, the Director General of the National Lotteries Authority (NLA), has underscored the jurisdictional hurdles in detaining illegal lottery operators.
Awuku revealed that the NLA had previously launched several operations to apprehend these operators to sanitise the industry.
However, the individuals arrested were often released on bail as soon as the arresting team returned to Accra.
During a media briefing and concurrent training session for management and stakeholders in Accra on Wednesday, Awuku urged for support from the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to enforce these arrests.
“One of the things that has been a major stumbling block to these arrests is the issue of jurisdiction. You arrest people engaging in illegal lotto operations in another region by the time you take them to the police, you leave and get to Accra they have been granted bail.
“Of course every offence is bailable…we get to Accra and the people have been granted bail. You go complain and they tell you it is a jurisdictional matter. You cannot also transfer them to Accra.”
“…I want to put this at the doorstep of the police administration because we believe that we are raising revenue for the state…and the frustration from the security agencies is one of the things also affecting the NLA’s operation.
“But we won’t give up, we will continue to do what we are doing to make sure that we sanitise the system,” he stated.
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