Police Investigate Arms Haul

The police in Ghana are investigating two cases in which large quantities of unlicensed arms and ammunition were recovered from an arms dealer and a businessman, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported on Tuesday.

PANA, quoting a police statement on Sunday, said more than 1,000 assorted guns were retrieved from the premises of the arms dealer, Kwame Addo. At the residence of Michael Soussoudis, a businessman - whom PANA said was a cousin of former president Jerry Rawlings - 15 shotguns, six pistols, a revolver, eight packets of cartridges and 32 pieces of nine-millimetre ammunition were said to have been found. Also recovered were two bayonets, three binoculars and two day-and-night telescopic sights. Three of the guns were allegedly unlicensed.

The report said two days after Soussoudis was granted bail on suspicion of illegal possession of arms, a revolver was found on his person while he was on a visit to the residence of President John Kufuor. He was taken to police headquarters for interrogation, brought back to Kufuor's home, then released without charge, the report said.