Bolgatanga, Dec. 28, GNA - Mr Martin Amidu, Minister of the Interior= , has warned criminals that his sector Ministry would deal drastically with them when they are caught in their nefarious activities. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Bolgatanga, Mr Amidu said the security agencies had reduced drastically highway robbery an= d other criminal activities, especially during the yuletide. He said the security agencies had mapped out effective strategies to arrest the miscreants in the society.

"Next year will be an action year for dealing drastically with highw= ay robbers and other criminals," he warned and asked the culprits to stay aw= ay from such nefarious activities in their own interest. Mr Amidu appealed to the public to expose criminals to the security agencies to enable them to weed them out. He gave the assurance that the security agencies would protect the identity of informants' and so they should volunteer information without fear.

The sector Minister expressed dissatisfaction about the way and manner some passengers were robbed on the highways and said the security agencies were working very hard to prevent such negative activities in future. He said government was recruiting about 2,000 police officers to help address the manpower need of the Ghana Police Service to help reverse the problem.

Mr Amidu said Government had committed money to purchase a number of vehicles for the security services to address their transportation needs to improve on night patrols on the highways. He said plans were far advanced for the purchase of more fire tenders for the Ghana National Fire Service as the opening of additional fire service stations across the country.