Crime

Burkinabe arrested with loaded pistol at church in Hamile

A 51-year-old Burkinabe, Tibila Desire Bilgo, has been arrested by the Lambussie District Police Command, on Sunday for possessing a foreign pistol loaded with two rounds of ammunitions, in a Catholic church at Hamile in the Upper West region.

He has since been transferred to district headquarters of the police command at Jirapa.

According to the Jirapa District Crime Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police, (DSP) Richard Dapilah, the suspect, dressed in casual clothes, was spotted by some members of the church acting suspiciously in the church auditorium, and they reported to the police.

“It was realised that he could not speak any of the Ghanaian local dialects, and also confessed to being a Burkinabe, and when asked why he held a pistol in a church, he said he was once attacked by armed robbers, so it was just to protect himself,” DSP Dapilah explained.

The Crime Officer said that the suspect confessed to have been contracted to construct a latrine for a client in Hamile, and also claimed to have registered the pistol in Burkina Faso, but was yet to declare it in Ghana.

“This man got into the country through unapproved means and so we will carry out investigations on him, prepare the docket and send it to the Attorney General for further advice,” DSP Dapilah stated.

This incident, which comes at the backdrop of predictions of terrorist attacks on churches in northern part of Ghana, led to a crunch meeting among the Regional Security Council, the local council of churches and the Islamic Council.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, the Bishop of Wa Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Richard Kuuia Baawobr, urged the church members to continue to be vigilant to ensure that unscrupulous persons were arrested.

The Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, said the situation would be curtailed, but called on the churches to be on the lookout for suspicious persons, who might enter church premises.

LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR

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