Tema, Sept. 20, GNA - The Tema Regional Police in a dawn swoop code-named "Operation Search and Retrieve", on Tuesday retrieved 73 cap and short guns and six old locally manufactured pistols from a 70-year-old blacksmith at Agotor, a village near Dawa in the Dangme East district.

The blacksmith, Teye Kwasi Teye-Wayo and his accomplice, Narteh Tetteh Wayo, 45, are now in police custody at Tema. Briefing newsmen on the operation, Police Chief Inspector Yaw Nketia-Yeboah, Head of Public Affairs said the operation, led by the Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Joshua Dogbeda, was due to the recent spate of highway and community robberies within the Municipality.

Police Chief Inspector Nketia-Yeboah said the operation was to retrieve dangerous weapons, arrest their manufacturers and users. He said when Teye-Wayo was arrested he told the police he inherited blacksmithing from his late father.

Police Chief Inspector said the suspect then led police to retrieve the weapons in his room and forge.

He said the operational team also retrieved 49 barrels without butts, four butts, two metals and two wooden designs used to manufacture weapons and gunpowder.

Police Chief Inspector Nketia-Yeboah said at the suspect's forge the police saw an anvil, bellow and other implements that he used as accessories in blacksmithing.

He said at Suapah Agotor, a nearby village, one pump action rifle and three short guns were retrieved.

Police Chief Inspector Nketia-Yeboah said owners of the weapons had been ordered by the police to produce their licences and assist in investigations.

He reiterated the Tema Regional Police Command's appeal to the public with information about people who manufacture dangerous weapons for armed robbers and other criminals to volunteer information for prompt action.

He assured whistle blowers that in addition to rewards, their identities would not be revealed. Police personnel who undertook the operation, were drawn from Tema, Ashaiman, Prampram, Dodowa and Ada.