Hidden Weapons a Threat to NPP Government - Soldiers Caution

Top officers of Military Intelligence (MI) have warned that the NPP government could be taken by surprise if investigations concerning hidden weapons are handled with kids' gloves because soldiers loyal to the former NDC government have for strange reasons refused to surrender sophisticated weapons in their possession.

Yet to come to the fore is a significant revelation picked up by Chronicle Intelligence a couple of weeks ago that a pile of Rocket Propelled Guns (RPG) and various deadly assault rifles were uncovered in a cadboard hidden in the office of the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 64 Infantry Regiment.

According to Intel sources, a Board of Enquiry has already been set up to investigate the circumstances that led to the hiding of such a large consignment of deadly weapons in the office covered with papers.

Chronicle further gathered that a large cach? of ammunition and heavy weapons have also be uncovered in the home of a soldier with the 64 Infantry Regiment (name withheld) who is currently on a peace mission in Sierra Leone.

This follows the discovery of several weapons at his base at Asutsuare.

Meanwhile, more Intel reports reaching the Chronicle also indicate that several Chinese pistols have been reported missing.

Speaking on how to deal with the 64 Infantry Regiment hidden weapons and its impact on the security of the country, MI officers who spoke to the Chronicle on anonymous grounds noted that the government should not waste time in re-posting soldiers from 64 Infantry Regiment when they arrive in Ghana from Sierra Leone.

"They are soldiers, and as a soldier you can be re-posted, so nobody should complain look, the government must keep a close eye on these soldiers for the next four years, we are on the ground and we know what we are saying", they noted.

According to the MI, re-posting of soldiers from the 64 Regiment should be done in such a way that the units to whom they are posted would benefit from their expertise.

They noted, for example, that the re-posted soldiers could train soldiers in other units because there are many weapons in the Armed Forces which can be operated only by personnel from the 64 Infantry Regiment.

The senior officers noted that for security reasons it is very prudent to either disband the unit or fill it with soldiers from other units.

They observed that there are several soldiers from the 64 Regiment who are living in town adding that it was dangerous because they are far from scrunity and could be influenced by outsiders.

"There are a number of soldiers from the 64 Regiment who are currently living in town. The danger is that people will have direct access to them in case they want to plan anything If they are re-posted to various units, the unit will be responsible for providing them with accommodation in the barracks As soldiers they are supposed to be in the barracks"

The MIs also noted that if the soldiers are accommodated in the barracks and re-posted to other units, it would be easy to monitor them since they would be working closely with other colleagues.

They noted that it will also be difficult for somebody to be visiting them to discuss any diabolical plan as well as grouping to plan anything ugly when they are dispersed around the country.

The senior officers also disclosed that very loyal officers of ex-President Rawlings who resigned from the service when he lost the 2000 elections have been re-grouping themselves to visit the President and the soldiers at the barracks.

"All these people are in town, if the 64 chaps are left in town they could be easily approached in case of we must keep close eyes on soldiers from the 64 unit for the next four years and beyond."

They noted that even though it is not clear why those soldiers have refused to handover powerful weapons in their possession it is something that worries the Military High Command and that is something which must be investigated with iron fist.

"Look, RPGs are very dangerous weapons, if you throw one in Accra, there will be trouble.It is only the 64 soldiers who were trained to handle weapons like 105,s which could be fired from a distance of about 25-30 kilometres. We learnt about this weapon but we have not used it before, only the 64 soldiers were shown how to operate it, " they said.

When Chronicle said such re-postings or re-locations could be misconstrued to mean witch-hunting, the MI's explained that such a claim would be unreasonable because among all the units in the Armed Forces, only the 64 Regiment were allowed and had access to all manner of weapons.

The MI told the Chronicle that even though number of soldiers in the other units did not exceed 600, soldiers from the 64 Regiment alone were about 1,000.