Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Dr Ernest Addion has revealed that more armoured bullion vans have been brought into the country to help reduce the rate of robbery attacks on the vans.
He said the Minister for the Interior has to give approval for the bullion vans to be released.
Answering questions at the 113th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference in Accra on Monday, July 24, he said that the BoG does not expect to hear cases of fatal robbery attacks on bullion vans going forward.
“The Ministry of Interior has to give approval for them to be released,” he said.
Dr Addison further indicated that a lot of the banks in Ghana are complying with the directive on the armoured bullion van.
“A lot of the banks are complying with the directive, he said.
It is recalled that the central bank in 2021 issued a directive for all financial institutions to procure the protective sophisticated vans failure to which the Bank of Ghana said it would not admit any substandard or soft-skinned Cash in Transit (CIT) vehicles into any of it’s premises nationwide.
This deadline was however extended to July 1, 2023 just after the James Town robbery attack on a Bullion Van in which a police officer was killed and another by- stander was hit with a stray bullet.
The series of robbery attacks on officers accompanying sub-standard vehicles for cash transfers forced the Inspector General of Police to issue threats not to escort any vehicle without the necessary protection for police officers.
A Bullion van was recently attacked at Ablekuma in Accra killing an officer in the process.
In front of a bullion van on security duties, the officer was shot multiple times at close range.
The sad incident followed an attempted robbery at the Star Oil Filling Station at Ablekuma Fan Milk, a suburb of Accra.
Four in number, the robbers are said to have followed the bullion van, which went to refill at the fuel station, where the shootout occurred.
“The police are on a manhunt to arrest a gang of four robbers who attacked a bullion van at Ablekuma Fanmilk, a suburb of Accra and shot the police escort who has unfortunately passed on,” a statement from the police said.
“We wish to assure the public that we will surely get the robbers arrested to face justice.”
