General News of Wednesday, 28 February 2018

Source: starrfmonline.com

Robberies: We’re in control of crime fight – Interior Minister

Interior Minister Ambrose Dery Interior Minister Ambrose Dery

The Interior Minister Ambrose Dery has said the State is in full control of the country’s security, despite concerns about the increasing spate of armed robbery in the country.

His comment comes on the back of the daylight robbery at the Royal Motors in Accra Tuesday. The incident joins the rising spate of brazen robberies in Ghana.
So far, close to 40 incidents of robberies have occurred in the country since the beginning of the year.

“We are containing the situation very effectively,” the Interior Minister told Starr News’ Parliamentary Correspondent Ibrahim Alhassan Wednesday.
He said despite the change of strategy by the armed robbers in their recent operations “the police haven’t lost control at all.”

Commenting specifically on the horrific daylight robbery at the Industrial area, Mr. Dery said that if the police were to be having a helicopter they would have gotten an air-cover and effectively trail the culprits.

“What we do not want people to think is that [because] this happened yesterday, [Tuesday February 27] it looked like we lost control…we haven’t lost control. You have to manage the situation in such a way that you will get the criminals without collateral damage,” he said.

In a related development, the Director of Operations of the Police Service COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare has assured that personnel of the Service are willing and ready to lay down their lives in order to stop robberies in Accra and other parts of the country.

According to him, due to the retooling of the service by the government, the Police have no excuse to fail.



“We would do everything even if it means putting our lives on the line to make these criminals very uncomfortable. If ensuring there is security means we lose our lives as police officers, we’ll allow that to ensure all citizens are safe. We are doing all we can to ensure that the good people of this country have their peace of mind and are safe.

As for the robbers, they should watch out. Government has committed 800 million to retool the Police Service and we have no reason not to deliver, we’ll become number one in Africa looking at the governments commitment,” he said on Morning Starr Wednesday.