N JUABEN:ER records reduction in crime cases

Police personnel

Eastern regional Minister, Victor Smith has expressed hope that the relative peace in the region would be nurtured and improved upon to enable meaningful development to take place.

He said the region needed peace and stability to develop and make progress, adding that but for pockets of chieftaincy and land disputes activities of Fulani herdsmen, illegal mining, illegal felling of timber using chainsaw among others, the region would have been swimming in total peace.

He identified the above including armed robbery, car jacking road accidents and thievery as major security challenges confronting the region which needed to be focused on.

Mr. Smith noted that dedication and proactiveness of  the security agencies particularly the Police and the Army has resulted in reduction in crime rate for the past six month, January-June 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.

The crime statistics are as follows:
Robbery                              -            33
Murder                                -            34
Narcotics                              -            35
Defilement and rape             -            60
Stealing and Unlawful entry    -            2,778
Illegal Mining                       -            11
Assault                                -            3,707

TOTAL                                           =                6,916

"We will continue to be vigilant and work to reduce these criminal activities to the barest minimum as we enter the elections period", the minister assured.

The regional minister said apart from destruction of food crops and degradation of the environment by the cattle, criminal activities of the herdsmen such as rape murder armed robbery and the rest pose a big threat to the region. Attempts by the various municipal/District assemblies to register the herdsmen and their cattle have been unsuccessful because of their itinerant nature.

On illegal mining, he said apart from the dangers of uncovered pits pose to unsuspecting persons within the mining communities, the pollution of water bodies particularly the Birim River has become a big threat to the very survival of the people in that part of the region.

"The Ghana Water Company has indeed been compelled to close down the treatment plant that draws raw water from the Birim River as a result of the severe pollution.

More worrying of this activity is the involvement of expatriates who actually introduced the use of heavy equipment.

The said the Security Council will continue with the period swoops to arrest the miners, their equipment and concentrates after which they would be subjected to the law.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistricts.com