The National Security apparatus appears to be responding to suspected security challenges, as a joint operation has led to the rounding up of 170 persons suspected to be terrorists.
The arrest was conducted on the Ghana/Togo frontier in an exercise codenamed Koudanlgou III, and it involved various segments of the security system.
Following the operation, the National Security Ministry has issued a statement explaining that the exercise was aimed at stalling planned terrorist activities in the country.
“The exercise is aimed at preventing terrorist activities, illegal resource extraction, drug trafficking, dealing in illicit arms, smuggling, among other transnational crimes,” a statement signed by Albert Kan-Dapaah, National Security Minister, explained.
Unlicensed firearms, some of them locally manufactured totalling 108, were seized during the exercise.
Some firearms had their licences expired, the statement said, adding that illegal miners, some of them foreigners, were also arrested at ‘Dollar Power’, near Bole.
The exercise, the statement pointed out, stemmed from previous agreements under ‘the Accra initiative’ following a meeting held between Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Benin in Accra in September 2017.
The meeting discussed strategies and coordinated the efforts of their security and intelligence agencies to curb transnational crimes, including violent extremism.
Koudanlgou I & II were organized in 2018 under the direction of the Ministry of National Security and supported by the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Customs Division of the GRA, The Narcotics Control Board, Forestry Commission, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana National Ambulance Service and other intelligence agencies.
According to the statement, the exercise is an intelligence-led operation and covered areas along the borders and selected points within fire regions in the northern enclave of Ghana of Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East and West regions.
The exercise is taking place against the backdrop of the secessionist activities in the Volta Region, leading to a recent so-called declaration of independence by a certain Charles Komi Korkordzi, aka Papavi.
By A.R. Gomda