Kwesi Ofori, the Acting Director-General of the Ghana Police Service Public Affairs Directorate has revealed that a bank worker has been arrested in connection with the recent attacks on bank customers in the country after they withdraw huge sums of money.
The ACP disclosed that the suspect was arrested in the Capital City to aid investigations. He further hinted that a lot of things happened after his arrest.
“Investigations are still ongoing and a bank worker was arrested. A bank worker, not necessarily a bank staff. We arrested him, and a lot has happened in that regard.”
ACP Kwesi Ofori
Meanwhile, ACP Kwesi Ofori said they have already started meeting with banks regarding the security arrangements for customers who come in to transact business.
The Police Service announced that it is putting in place, urgent additional security measures in the Greater Accra Region to combat an ostensible surge in robbery cases.
ACP Kwesi Ofori said the Police has advised banks to tell their customers to adopt off-counter service when transacting business involving huge sums of money.
“We are also talking to the banks to know the people who come into the banking hall. Do they have something doing at the counter, and are they coming for a service? Often we find people neatly dressed inside the bank monitoring what is happening even when there are notices all over, that is not allowed.”
ACP Kwesi Ofori
The current development came on the back of a similar call from a security analyst at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Prof Kwesi Aning, who suggested that it is time for banks to start interrogating their staff over robberies involving them.
Prof Kwesi Aning believes, methodical checks ought to be done on both corporate and personal electronic devices used by the workers there to assess information that might have aided such crimes, if any.
The KAIPTC Director of Academic Affairs and Research Faculty iterated that the Police and the banks must adopt rigorous security measures to determine the culpability of bank workers in robbery incidents on persons who may have conducted business at their facilities.
“This lady who withdrew money from the bank, how did criminals know that she had money on her? Are we picking up people within that particular bank, checking their laptops and phone records, or if there is a compromise of such sensitive information to the client. Some really critical questions need to be asked to assure us or those who use the banking facilities that the backgrounds of bank staff are checked, secured, and they are routinely also checked again because [this kind of crimes] raises serious fundamental questions because of the gang-style manner in which this operation was carried.”
Prof Kwesi Aning
Of late, there have been reports of rampant day light robberies in the country. In the space of one week alone, there have been reports of at least four broad daylight robberies in different parts of the capital. In one instance, the robbers opened fire, leaving a bystander with gunshot wounds. The robbers in all the incidents made away with huge sums of money.
However, one thing surprising to the whole citizenry is the brazen nature and style of operation by these robbers in broad da light.
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