Police in the Volta Region have seized a commercial vehicle loaded with ammunition.
Several consignments of bullets were discovered in the bus, including two cartons of AAA and BBB cartridges.
The red Yutong bus with registration number GT 5919-16 was travelling to Kpassa in the Oti Region, with 29 passengers on board.
The Volta Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Effia Tenge, said the bus set off from Accra but was stopped at Hohoe by a police team based on intelligence.
The ammunition was concealed in the side compartment of the bus and was discovered after a thorough search.
The driver in charge of the bus, Robert Ofosu Nyanor, 50; and his conductor, Godwin Aniwo, 32; were immediately placed under arrest for further interrogation and the bus was impounded.
No passenger in the vehicle claimed ownership of the boxes.
The driver and his conductor have been released on police enquiry bail and currently assisting with investigations.
The Ghana Police Service has been on alert to crack down on guns and ammunition due to increased reported cases of crime committed with such weapons.
Nana Yaw Akwada, Chief of Party at the Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) said firearms use in the commission of violent crimes had increased by 79 per cent after an assessment of crime between January to June 2021.
It is not the first time an incident has been recorded in relation to illegal inter-city transport of ammunition but prosecution and imprisonment of culpable persons have not deterred the practice.
2007
In August 2007, the Northern Regional Police Command impounded a cargo truck carrying an unspecified quantity of ammunition in Bimbilla in the Northern Region.
The owner of the ammunition and the driver of the vehicle were arrested to assist the police with investigations.
2015
Ghana’s Customs officers at Aflao impounded a truck carrying thousands of short cartridges (bullets) together with sealed packs of dried leaves believed to be Indian hemp.
Officials said a thorough search on the vehicle revealed that it had already entered the nation’s border six times, but it was unclear whether on those occasions it carried ammunition.
On that occasion, the driver and the occupants bolted immediately and the officers were unable to arrest them.
The vehicle had Nigerian registration number KTU 444 XV.
2020
Barely three months to the December 2020 elections, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) said in collaboration with some state authorities at the Tema Port impounded a 20-footer container containing 436 pistols, 26 packs of 50 pieces of ammunition and 1(40millimetre) piece of pepper spray, that were illegally imported from Turkey into Ghana.
The arms and ammunition were found to have been concealed in personal effects made up of clothing, shoes and bags among other items.
GRA in the statement signed by its Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Florence Asante, stated that the arms were detected during a physical examination exercise on October 9, 2020, at the Terminal Three facility by officials of the Tema Command of Customs.