Banks without bullion vans will not be given Police escorts - IGP

The Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong Boanuh has given banks involved in bulk cash transportation to acquire a bullion van by the end of June or there will be no Police escort for them.

The IGP paid a visit to the family of Constable Emmanuel Osei of the National SWAT, who was murdered in cold blood by armed robbers who attacked a bullion van at James Town, Accra on Monday 14th June 2021.

According to him, the Police are putting measures in place to curb attacks on security service personnel in the country and a key solution is collaborating with the Bank of Ghana to ensure that Banks across the country secure armoured bullion vans for bulk cash transportation.

“Let me assure you that we are not just sitting down,” he said.

“We have had a series of meetings with the banks and the companies and just before I came here, I had a meeting with the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, and the executive members of the association of Bank of Ghana, and these are issues that we discussed.

“From now to the 30th of this month, any bank or any company that does not have a bullion van, we are not going anything any service.”

The IGP assured that investigations have commenced on why the murdered Police officer was not wearing a fragmented jacket since it is a norm of every security personnel engaged in money conveyance.

“Only crimes do not prevent the shooting of police officers but they help in the investigation. Having said that we have somebody fragmentation jackets and depending on the circumstances, we issue them out to our officers.

"We are investigating (why he was not wearing a fragmented jacket), as I indicated, that's part of the information as to why an officer on duty was not wearing a bulletproof vest, and we’ll come out with the results.”