PHOTO: Police grab 4 men in Ashanti for supplying guns to robbers

In the first instance, the police arrested two persons, Kwasi David and Kwabena Acheampong, from whom the police retrieved five locally made pistols and seven single-barrelled guns.

The police also retrieved tools from the suspects believed to have been used for the manufacture of the arms. They included two hand and three drilling machines, 10 metal files, three saw blades and two metal patterns of the butt of a single-barrelled gun.

In the second operation, the police arrested two other suspects, Bawa Salis and Kafui Adams, for supplying guns to robbers in the Obuasi Municipality.

A submachine gun, with 12 rounds of ammunition, which according to the police is used by the military and five mobile phones were retrieved from Salis and Adams.

At a press briefing in Kumasi yesterday, the Ashanti Regional Commander of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Nathan Kofi Boakye, said the police believed that the suspects arrested in the first operation had been supplying guns to armed robbers in the metropolis.

He said on August 21, 2014, at about 11:30 p.m. while on its normal routine checks, the Ashanti Regional Highway Patrol Team intercepted a minibus, at Abofour, near Offinso.

Kwasi David and Kwabena Acheampong, arrested at Abofour.Kwasi David and Kwabena Acheampong, arrested at Abofour.

Search

DCOP Boakye said during a search on the bus, the police found a black bag in which the five locally manufactured pistols had been concealed. It was found to belong to Kwasi David, who was a passenger on the bus.

He mentioned Kwabena Acheampong, a resident of Buoho-Denase as the supplier, and on August 24, 2014, David led the police to Acheampong’s house where the other items were retrieved, DCOP Boakye said.

He said the two men would be processed for court on the charge of possessing firearms without lawful authority.

Second arrest

On how Salis and Adams were arrested, DCOP Boakye said on September 1, this year, the police had information that some criminals at Obuasi-Nsuta were in possession of a gun they wanted to sell.

He said plain-clothes policemen were sent to Salis under the guise of buying the weapon and he in turn took them to Adam’s house, where he introduced them as those interested in buying the weapon.

According to DCOP Boakye, Adams then brought out the submachine gun, with serial number SMG No KR 40782 and 12 rounds of ammunition, which had been concealed in a polythene bag.

Following this, he said, the two men were arrested.