Pious Enam Hadidze
Government
has cautioned self-styled security experts against ridiculing the coup d’état
claim it made recently.
According
to the government, “It is unfortunate that sections of the Ghanaian public would
attempt to ridicule this information.”
Deputy
Information Minister Pious Enam Hadidze served the warning at a press briefing
in Accra yesterday.
He
said the coup d’état claim was a result of sustained surveillance including
video, insisting that the suspects had been plotting to target the Presidency.
“And
so we want to discourage strong attempts by sections of our population,
especially on social media and even sometimes in traditional media by
self-acclaimed security and intelligence
experts, to attempt to ridicule what information the government has put out,”
he stressed.
He
said it is true that chemicals were purchased for the manufacture of the
weapons and that it is true that there was test firing of the weapons.
The
Deputy Minister referred to cases from the US to argue that it did not have to take
many people to assassinate a President.
Government
on Monday announced that security agencies had foiled a plan aimed at creating
instability in the country, and a takeover of political power through radicalization
of the youth and the use of locally manufactured guns last Friday.
According
to a statement signed by Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the intended
coup was prevented when joint security personnel conducted a successful dawn
operation which led to the arrest of three persons and the retrieval of several
arms, explosive devices and ammunition in Accra and at Bawaleshie, near Dodowa.
The
suspects are the proprietor of a medical facility called Citadel Hospital at
Alajo-Accra, Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, and two others, Ezor Kafui, a local
weapon manufacturer (blacksmith), as well as Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu, aka BB
or ADC.
Retrieved Exhibits
Five
locally manufactured pistols with fitted magazines, one foreign pistol with two
extra magazines, three locally manufactured pistol barrels and three smoke
grenades were retrieved.
Others
were 22 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), nine NATO type AK 47 magazines and
a long knife.
The
rest were seven mobile phones, two IPADS, two decoders, one modem, three
tablets and one Ghanaian passport. Besides, two pen drives, one voice recorder,
one USB connector including machines, materials for the manufacture of weapons,
and IEDs were retrieved.
At
the Bawaleshie location, 63mm rounds were also retrieved.
Local Weapons
As
part of the project, Dr. Mac-Palm engaged an Alavanyo blacksmith to produce
weapons locally alongside IEDs for an operation.
The
blacksmith set up a workshop in a container, which previously served as an
X-Ray laboratory within the Citadel Hospital. He started producing the weapons
and IEDs within the location, the statement pointed out.
Korle Bu Ingredients
Dr.
Mac-Palm and Mr. Ezor procured from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital some
essential items needed as an additive to gun powder, stone chippings, surgical
needles and powdered pepper for their operations.
A worker at the Base Workshop of the Ghana Army at Burma Camp was engaged for the supply of 10 AK 47 rifles for which an advance payment of GH¢7,000 was made.
BY Melvin Tarlue
