By Godfred A. Polkuu, GNA
Bawku (U/E) Nov. 25, GNA – Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, the Minister for National Security, at the weekend disclosed that a total of 427 Ghanaians and nationals from other countries were arrested in a joint multinational operation codenamed “Operation Koudanlgou III”, mainly at border towns.
He said out of the number arrested, 333 were Ghanaians while 94 were other nationals, and indicated that the high numbers could be due to the presence of potential terrorists and multinational criminal networks along the borders.
Security agencies from Ghana and Togo began a joint security operation simultaneously along their borders and selected areas within their national territories on November 19 with an aim to curb cross border crimes, motorbike thefts, armed robbery and incidents of terrorism.
Mr Kan-Dapaah said this when he debriefed the Chiefs and people in the Bawku Municipality of the Upper East Region.
“Large quantities of narcotic drugs, notably marijuana were seized during this operation and it is a cause for worry as it has the potential of being injurious to the large youthful population who are not just cultivators but consumers of the product”, he said.
The National Security Minister said government was committed to using military options to resolve threats of terrorism in the country as it was known to thrive in areas where State presence was limited and thus gave grounds for easy indoctrination.
“In order to limit the exposure of our citizens to the machinations of these terror groups, government is committed to bringing the necessary services such as healthcare, education, potable water, improved roads, modernized farming methods and many others to the people.”
He said this was geared towards bringing governance closer to the people to ensure inclusiveness of everybody, “We will also continue to engage in public education on the threats we face in order to ensure public alertness and the need to reject such overtures.”
Mr Kan-Dapaah expressed appreciation to the agents and operatives who caused the arrest of the criminals and the seizure of the illicit goods, and thanked their Togolese counterparts for participating in the operation in spite of the bottlenecks they encountered in the planning process.
Colonel Richard Mensah, the Commander of the Operational Command Post for Operation Koudanlgou III said the operation was planned to take place among seven countries namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Togo.
He said due to non-participation by the other countries, the operation was conducted by Ghana and Togo, and explained that the operation was planned and categorised into four phases; phase one was the preparation stage, phase two was the deployment of troops from both countries, phase three, the execution of the operation and the last phase was debriefing and disengagement of the troops.
Colonel Mensah said between November 15 and 18, deployment of Forces was done across the Savannah, Northern, North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions with operational command posts based in Bawku, and Dapaong in Togo, while the Ghanaian advanced command post was based in Bolgatanga.
He said several items including locally manufactured and foreign weapons were seized and many illegal miners were found in forest reserves, “Most of the foreigners who were arrested were checked by the Ghana Immigration Service and some of them have already been deported.”
He said 25 were from Burkina Faso, nine from Nigeria, six from Cote d’Ivoire, three from Benin and two from Togo have all been deported back to their countries while others, especially the Ghanaians were standing trial in court.
The Commander said about 1800 troops from Ghana were drawn from various security agencies notably the Police, Military, Immigration, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, and Bureau of National Investigation among others.
On the part of Togo, Colonel Mensah said about 1200 troops were deployed, and their operation was in the Savannah Region of their country where they arrested some people, seized weapons, and confiscated adulterated fuel and alcohol.
“The operation has been very successful”, he said.
GNA
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