The Ghana Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has said that it has arrested 8 men from the Republic of Niger with dangerous ammunitions.

The terrorists were arrested in the bushes of Adjei Kojo, a suburb of Ghana’s port city of Tema in a joint operation with the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) Taskforce.

About one thousand heavy cannon balls were retrieved from them along with heavy weapons. They were also believed to be manufacturing pellets and bullets for short guns and locally manufactured weapons, which are commonly used in most local robbery cases in Ghana.

Deputy National Security coordinator in-charge of Operations, G. K. Kosivi-Degbor, told reporters in the capital, Accra that they have been handed over to National Security for further interrogation.

An anonymous official at the BNI told the NationalTurk that the arrest was due to constant surveillance of the security service in the area which spotted the men in a loaded truck.

“We spotted a Kia truck in a bush near an uncompleted building, loading what was initially thought to be scrap metal, but when we checked further, we found some dangerous weapons leading to the arrest’’, the anonymous security official told the NationalTurk.

Local reporter, Inusah Muntala who visited the scene told the NationaTurk’s Issaka Adams that Further search near where they were loading the scrap metals, revealed that they had dug a long trench, covered with tree leafs and beneath it were over 600 heavy cannon balls.

They had already hidden over 400 of the heavy cannon balls with the scrap in the Kia truck the security forces arrested transporting it to an unknown destination in the country.

Upon interrogation, the eight persons, including the driver confirmed that they were from Niger but it is yet unclear what their mission is.

There has not been any statement from the Nigerien embassy in Ghana although they have been informed by the Information Ministry of Ghana.

Ghanaian farmers in the area also disclosed to the security men that the foreigners have been operating in the area for some time now.

Cannon balls were among the earliest forms of gunpowder artillery, and over time replaced siege engine on the battlefield but naval warfare in the early modern period, as European navies took advantage of their firepower.

In World War I, the majority of combat fatalities were caused by artillery; they were also used widely in World War II. Most modern cannon are similar to those used in the Second World War, although the importance of the larger calibre weapons has declined with the development of missiles.

The spate of terrorism in West Africa is increasing but Ghana’s President, John Mahama has pledged to fight it to save the region from collapsing.

Ghana is a very calm and peaceful nation among the West African sub-region but its borders are sometime used to destabilize other nations as a result of the peaceful nature of the country.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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