By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The National Security Advisor, Brigadier General Emmanuel Okyere has entreated the public to cooperate with security personnel conducting an exercise code named “Operation Koudanlgou IV”.
The multinational joint operation which is the fourth in the series since the beginning of the ‘Accra Initiative’ in September 2017 is aimed at taking the fight to all shades of criminals.
The operation is taking place in all the five Northern regions of Ghana and some parts of Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo. Brigadier General Okyere made the appeal when he briefed the media in Wa in the Upper West Region.
Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo reports that 386 suspected criminals of varied nationalities have been apprehended and are being screened.
General Officer Commanding, Northern Command, Brigadier General Moses Aryee as well as three foreign liaison officers from Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire were at the briefing.
The National Security Advisor, Brigadier General Emmanuel Okyere touched on the objective of the exercise which he described as a shared responsibility.
The objective for these operations is to fight terrorism, transnational organised crimes within our common borders, highway robberies, illegal mining and other criminal activities within defined areas of operation.
”In this operation 297 Ghanaians and 107 foreigners, foreign nationals including Burkinabes, Malians, Togolese, Nigerians and Nigeriens were arrested for various infractions and they are being strictly screened”, according to Brigadier General Okyere.
”We are all aware about the terrorist activities in the sub-region, particularly Burkina Faso and continued that the security services are working around the clock to prevent terrorist attack in Ghana.”.
He pointed out that the communities are being sensitized for them to understand and cooperate with the security services.
The National Security Advisor emphasized that the operations are not meant to antagonize the people.
“They have not gone to any place and started harassing anybody, the operations have been intelligence led and conducted professionally. By and large, our objectives for these exercises have been achieved”.
Brigadier General Okyere added that “in some cases in this exercise, we have had to do cross-border arrests in collaboration with our neighbouring countries”.
The Director Land Operations at Ghana Armed Forces, Colonel Eric Konadu who dwelt on operational areas indicated that a sizable number of the foreign nationals were apprehended at legal mining sites.
”Illegal mining equipment, several weapons, large quantities of narcotics and restricted pharmaceutical products were confiscated during the exercises”.
Colonel Konadu related that the operations involved swoops, cordon and search, highway and border patrols as well as anti illegal mining exercises.
