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Residents and workers who live and work around the premises of the National Security Ministry ( Blue Gate) has appealed to the President of the Republic who is by the law the Chairman of the National Security Council to as a matter of urgency restrain the National Security Coordinator In charge of operations to stop impounding fuel tankers within the Premises of their yard.

According to residents around the ministries enclave, they stated that, “Per our checks and information available to us, Col Agyemang has used his office and power to arrest and impounded trucks carrying timber, petrol tankers and other heavy-duty trucks carrying goods.

These trucks have been impounded within the yard of the Ministry of National Security (blue gate) For some mysterious reasons not known to us, Col Agyemang has deliberately refused to hand over the arrested trucks to the appropriate quarters for investigation.
In the case of the arrested truck carrying timber, he has refused to hand over to the Forestry Commission which is the legally mandated institution clothed with the legal attire to investigate and handle Forestry related matters.

In furtherance of the above, Col Agyemang has also blatantly refused to hand over the impounded fuel tanker to the Customs Divisions of the GRA which is responsible for arresting and impounding any truck suspected to have invaded taxes.

It is important to note that, the SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES ACT, 1996 (ACT 526) which provides the legal framework for operations of the National Security and same also provides for the appointment of the coordinator and all staff clearly in no uncertain terms provides at Section 12 of the Act as follows,
Functions Of The Intelligence Agencies.

‘The Intelligence Agencies shall have the following functions-

(a) collect, analyses retain and disseminate as appropriate information and intelligence respecting activities that may constitute threats to the security of the State and the government of Ghana;

(b) safeguard the economic well-being of the State against threats posed by the acts or omissions of persons or organisations both inside and outside the country;

(c) protect the State against threats of espionage, sabotage, terrorism, hijacking, piracy, drug trafficking and similar offences;

(d) protect the State against the activities of persons, both nationals and non-nationals, intended to overthrow the government of Ghana or undermine the constitutional order through illegal political, military, industrial or other means or through any other unconstitutional method; and

(e) perform such other functions as may be directed by the President or the Council.’
10. It is unambiguous that, per the laws stated above that governs and stipulates the functions of the National Security as an Intelligence Agency does not have the legal capacity to impound and detain goods in conveyance at their office or yard.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Abridged Version of CUSTOMS ACT, 2015 ACT 891 provides explicitly at page 29 that,
Power of arrest of a person and detention of goods

An officer who reasonably believes that a provision of the law has been contravened, may detain the goods and the conveyance involved, until investigations have been completed.
An officer who considers it necessary may arrest and detain a person reasonably suspected to be committing, or to have committed, or to have aided in the commission of an offence.

An officer shall not detain a person for more than forty-eight (48) hours.

A literal interpretation of the above mentioned Act clearly vest the power to impound and arrest goods with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

It could however be said that where the National Security has a reasonable cause to believe that, a crime is been committed or any illegality has been committed, the National Security is expected to within the shortest possible hand over the suspects to the relevant agency to further investigations

They added that, It is striking to say that, the yard where the fuel tanker carrying petrol or diesel has been impounded is not even safe because in the unexpected event of an explosion, the gravity of damage will be unbearable. It may suffice to say that, the place is a public enclave where several offices including the ministries of Ghana, GRA head office, Accra Sports Stadium is situated at and also the first lady’s office.

Residents lamented about the fact that, National Security does not have the mechanism to check whether or not the fuel tankers impounded in their yard are leaking or whatsoever

Find attached the pictures of the said truck