Internet fraud becoming a threat

Accra, Feb. 26, GNA - Mr. Patrick Acheampong, Inspector General of Police (IGP) said on Tuesday internet fraud was becoming a great threat in West Africa and called on governments to provide more money to help curb the crime.

He said that the Ghana government was strengthening the whistle blowers law to encourage people to give information about the existence of such crimes in their communities.

The IGP was addressing a meeting held at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) to received Mr Erik Solheim, Norwegian Minister of Development and Environment, who is on a three-day official state visit to the country.

Mr Solheim's visit to the centre was to enable him to know how funds from his country were being used to promote peacekeeping. The meeting that centred on activities being organized by the centre to promote peacekeeping brought together security experts at the KAIPTC and a delegation from Norway who accompanied the Minister as well as civilians.

Mr Acheampong said Ghana and other West African countries were also prone to receiving proceeds of small arms from countries involved in war and called for collaboration from donor countries to help deal with it. He said the Ghana Police Service was cooperating with other police departments in West Africa to help fight organized crime.

Commodore Albert Addison, Deputy Commandant at KAIPTC, who gave an overview on the operations and training programmes of the centre said it would train about 2773 military, police and civilians by the end of 2008 and about 6500 by 2010.

He explained that the centre was not a military institution but rather very collaborative with all stakeholders who sought peace in the world and mentioned a wide scope of people who benefited from the training not only from West Africa but around the world, including NGOs and government officials in addition to the police and military officers.

Commodore Addison said the Norwegian government was interested in funding more civilian programmes and were involved in the training of Media in Peace Support Operations programme.

"Through the support of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) the KAIPTC has raised some professionals and ran seminars for Media in Peace Support Operations Course in November 2007 which trained military, civilian and Gendarmerie officers for duties as spokespersons, press officers and public information staff, in peace support mission," he said.

Mr. Solheim, who asked questions about some of the training programmes and operations of the Centre, commended the Centre for the achievements so far made.