THE Police Administration has decided to mount barriers and conduct snap checks on highways throughout the country, with effect from this week.

The exercise is part of measures aimed at combating the activities of highway robbers, particularly those who attack market women and other traders and travellers on the highways.

The Director of Police Public Relations, Mr David Senanu Eklu, made this known in an interview in Accra at the weekend.

He said the exercise will involve the stopping of vehicles and conducting searches on them, and sometimes on passengers on board, as well.

Mr Eklu appealed to the public to co-operate with the police personnel because the exercise may cause some inconvenience to travellers.

According to him, there would be no specific time frame for the exercise. The police personnel will continue the exercise “until we are satisfied that the situation is under control,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ernest Owusu Poku, has directed all Regional Police Commanders to monitor the activities of all police personnel who will be involved in the exercise to ensure that they operate strictly according to police regulations.

The regional commanders will determine the nature of the operation, with regard to where, when and how it will be done.

On armed robberies, Mr Eklu said the joint police and military patrol teams are making significant inroads in their operations against robbers.

In recent times, there has been an upsurge in the activities of robbers on the highways, particularly on the Techiman-Tamale, Accra-Ho and Kumasi-Accra roads.

In most cases, the robbers took away monies of market women on board the buses they (robbers) intercepted and, in one instance, they stripped all the passengers of their clothes and made them run into the bush.