Gang’s attempt to smuggle premix foiled
A team of the police, national security operatives and officials of the Shama District Assembly has foiled an attempt by a gang to smuggle about 13,000 litres of premix fuel to Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia, using canoes.
Advertisement
Thirty-four drums of the fuel were being transported to the shore where the canoes were on standby when the police intercepted the truck conveying the fuel at Awona-Kwasi, a fishing village near Appoh in the Shama District.
The driver of the truck, Joseph Ackon, 38, has been arrested but the rest of the gang managed to escape.
Premix is currently in short supply in the district but the gang had hidden the consignment in the bush at Awona-Kwasi.
When contacted, the Shama District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Enoch Appiah, said although the security committee always received information on fuel smuggling activities, the informants refused to lead the team to the location where the fuel was hidden.
Explaining the gang’s mode of operation, the DCE said when fuel arrived at various depots in the evenings, it was unloaded by the attendants under the cover of darkness, contrary to directives that the unloading should be done during the day.
He said he directed the police and the national security to investigate the reports and the findings indicated that the fuel was smuggled out of the country after it had been unloaded in the night, thereby denying some fishermen their share.
Mr Appiah said during the investigations, the team received information that the suspects were planning to move another consignment out of the country.
He said security operatives followed up on the information, which turned out to be true, leading to the interception and arrest.
Chief Inspector Samuel Minta of the Shama Police told the Daily Graphic that intelligence received indicated that a Hyundai truck, with registration number CR 436 - 12, was to cart the fuel from the bush at Awona-Kwesi to the shores of Shama.
For his part, the Western Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Kofi Boakye, urged members of communities to volunteer information to the police, since modern policing was a shared responsibility.
By Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu/Daily Graphic/Ghana