The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbillah, has given a two-week grace period to all residents in the metropolis who posses firearms to submit them for registration, or risk being arrested and arraigned before court for possession of illegal weapons.
The command has further announced that it would soon embark on an exercised dubbed �Operation Dragnet,� to retrieve all illegal firearms from the Kumasi metropolis as part of efforts to reduce the spate of armed robbery and other violent crimes in the city.
The Police boss, DCOP Patrick Timbillah, has therefore called on all persons in possession of any illegal weapons, such as imported, but unlicensed and locally manufactured weapons, to, as a matter of urgency, hand them over to the police before the stipulated date of November 3, 2009 elapses, in order to have their firearms regularized.
It is an offence under the Arms and Ammunitions Act 1962 sections 118(6) and 118(15) to possess firearms without authority, and also to transfer firearms to another person without authority. In a press release issued and signed by the Head of Public Relations Unit of the Service in the Ashanti Region, Chief Inspector Mohammed Tanko, the police said the exercise was meant to clear the metropolis of all illegal weapons, as most violent crimes, especially robberies are perpetrated with the use of these weapons.
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