Residents of Paga in the Upper East Region have called on government to beef up security at the border town following warnings from a police wireless message about possible attacks by bandits from neighbouring Burkina Faso.
The residents want the government to tighten the border and increase the presence of personnel of the Police and Military in the town to curtail the penetration of the said bandits into the country.
The residents, who spoke with GhanaWeb's Upper East Correspondent, Senyalah Castro, said that they have been living in fear since a police wireless message in circulation two days ago, revealed a plot by the bandits to attack the regional capital Bolgatanga and some other yet-to-be-identified areas within the country’s northern territory.
The residents said they are yet to see anything strange in the border town, but some incidents which have happened in the area including the killing of a young man by suspected armed robbers, have left them feeling unsafe.
Adding that with Paga being a border town and major entry point, puts them at high risk of attacks by terrorists and there was the need for the government to take urgent step to ensure their safety.
One of the resident, Alhassan Bukari, said he has been worried since he saw the wireless message from the Police on social media revealing the possible attacks. He was particularly worried about the inability on the part of the country’s security agencies to detect the said bandit at the stage of making entry into Ghana’s territory.
He appealed to the government to equip the various security agencies in the country and put them on high alert to thwart any attack.
Janet Pwazaga, a resident who operates a provision shop in the Paga market, said even though she has heard about the infiltration of the bandits on the news, she was yet to see a strange face in her environment. She however said the increasing crime rate in the town makes her feel it is a warm up to the attacks by the bandits.
She bemoaned the porous nature of Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso, stating that foreigners use those unapproved routes to enter the country. She appealed to the government to protect them by deploying more Police and Military personnel to the area.
“There are some places that people pass to enter [into Ghana] and we those in Paga here we are afraid because our lives are in danger. Anything can happen at any time. So, we are pleading to the government to give us protection by giving us police and soldiers,” she said.
Mensah Frimpong Cyprian, also a resident, urged the security agencies to increase their patrols to isolated locations along the border and within the region to ensure that the bandits are prevented from gaining access to Ghana. He also urged the security agencies to gather intelligence that can be used to identify the hideouts of the said bandits and crush them.
Mr. Mensah said making information on the activities of strangers in the communities available to the security agencies was very important in the fight against terrorism. He, therefore, advocated strongly that the public should assist the security agencies by reporting suspicious characters to them.
Residents of Paga want government to increase security in the border town