Be vigilant on illicit arms trade – Dery to Small Arms Commission

The Interior Minister Mr Ambrose Dery has charged the newly-inaugurated board of the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons to raise awareness among the populace especially border communities and be vigilant in gathering information on the illicit arms trade, manufacture, and smuggling.

This, according to him, will enable law enforcement agencies to act swiftly.

He said this when he was inaugurating the governing board of the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Accra.

“You need to raise awareness among the populace especially border communities and be vigilant in gathering information on illicit arms trade, manufacture, and smuggling to enable the law enforcement agencies to act swiftly,” Mr Dery who is the Member of Parliament for Nandom said.

Recently, Deputy Director, Head of Programmes at National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Johnson Asante Twum, revealed that 75 percent of the weapons used in committing crimes lately are all imported.

He said this while contributing to a discussion on the increasing rate of robbery cases in parts of the country especially the capital city.

“The Police records show that 80 percent of all of the weapons used in the commission of crimes were locally made.

“But today, the story is different,” he said.

“We have over 75 percent between 2017 and 2019, on the average, of all weapons used in the commission of crime being foreign-made weapons and we are looking at 24plus percent being locally made,” Mr Asante Twum said on September 27.