Police declare all-out war on armed robbers

The Police Administration on Friday said that an all-out war has been declared on armed robbery to forestall any escalation during the Christmas festivities.

"We know that some of these criminal elements may take advantage of people's concentration on the Yuletide to strike and we have contingency plans for such eventualities," Dr Kofi Kesse Manfo, Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

He, however, called on the public to be vigilant and intensify their cooperation with the security agencies by providing information on suspicious characters to enable them to prevent any strikes.

Dr Manfo said more patrols have been planned on certain flash points within and outside the metropolis while snap-checks would be intensified on the roads.

He said that armed robbery rates have drastically reduced throughout the country due to persistent pursuit of the criminals by the security agencies.

Dr Manfo attributed the success of the crusade against armed robbery to the provision of vehicles and other logistics by the government, saying that more of such equipment was expected within the next few weeks.

He said even though armed robbery per se could not be totally eradicated it could be curtailed.