The Ghana Immigration Service has now been cleared to bear ammunition, deputy Interior minister James Agalga has revealed.

The move comes after the passage of the Immigration service act by parliament.

Personnel of the Immigration service have in the past relied on their colleagues at the Custom Excise and Preventive service to deal with hostile violators of the country’s immigration laws. They have often lamented their deficiency in dealing with crime at the border because they wield no ammunition.

Speaking at Starr FM’s Leadership Thought Summit in Accra, Mr. Agalga said the decision to arm the service is part of efforts by government to ensure that the various security agencies are well placed to fight terrorism.

“One of the highlights of the new bill is to set up the border patrol unit of the immigration service which will be the first line of defense in our country. To do that, we are now going to arm the border patrol unit of the service.

“For so many years, we have had the border patrol unit, they have worked with their bare hands but now the bill has been passed and they are now entitled to bear arms,” he stated.