Security agencies on the alert for illegal firearm circulation
Security agencies are on high alert to track the illicit trade in small arms in the country. The National Commission on Small Arms is therefore, asking for public support in achieving this feat.
Small arms, which include rifles, pistols and light machine guns, have fueled conflicts and destabilized many parts of the African continent. Tens of thousands of Africans have died due to gun conflicts.
While the international community works out a strategy to regulate global trade in small arms, a growing number of African countries are experiencing a hike.
The United Nations and non-governmental organizations are grappling with the human and development consequences of gun violence.
Ghana has had its fair share of the effects of illicit trade in small arms with sporadic conflicts in parts of the country.
The police recently arrested a truck load of arms in Accra. Another arrest followed less than a week later in the Volta region.
Statistics released by the National Commission on Small Arms show that five hundred thousand licensed guns are in private hands while an estimated number of 1.5 million illicit guns are in circulation.
Executive Secretary of the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms, Jones Borteye Applerh, in an interview with e.tv Ghana news noted that the problem of gun proliferation in the country had got to do with the systems needed to be in place to ensure that accessories such as cartridges were sold to licensed firearm dealers and not to “miscreants”.
As elections 2012 draws nearer, Mr Applerh says his unit is collaborating with the security agencies to ensure that Ghana’s borders and territories are protected from these dangerous weapons.
By: Naadi Bitlegma, e.tv Ghana
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