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07.07.2005 Business & Finance

Police Ban Importation Of Toy Guns

07.07.2005 LISTEN
By Graphic

The Ghana Police Service has, with immediate effect, banned the importation and sale of toy guns in the country.

The action is in line with Executive Instrument 21 of 1999, under which the manufacture, possession or carrying of any category of explosives, including toys and fireworks, are prohibited.

Under that law, any person who manufactures, possesses or carries any explosive without permission commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ¢5 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.

Chief Superintendent David Ampah Benin, Director of the Police Public Relations Directorate, told the press in Accra yesterday that in spite of the existence of the instrument, some people continued to smuggle, possess and openly display the prohibited items for sale on the markets, streets and vantage points.

Lately, he stated, those toy guns were being acquired by criminals who misused them to intimidate and rob unsuspecting victims of their cars, handbags, mobile phones and other valuables.

According to the police Public Relations Director, the police had the latest confirmation of that criminal behaviour last Sunday when a police patrol team found two toy guns in a stolen taxi which had been abandoned at Dansoman in Accra.

Consequently, he said, the police would rigorously enforce the law and directed all persons who were in possession or control of toy guns to deposit them at the nearest police station.

He warned that anybody found in possession of or offering for sale any toy gun would be arrested and prosecuted.

He said the police had already embarked on an exercise to seize and arrest those who were offering the toy guns for sale at the various markets, shops and on the roads as lighters.

Chief Superintendent Ampah Benin said the ongoing exercise would be extended to all the regions to rid the country of toy guns.

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