Stop using police officers to escort bullion vans – Security Analyst

Security analyst, Adam Bona, has asked the Ghana Police Service and Governor of the Bank of Ghana to end the practice of using police officers to escort bullion vans.

His comment comes after a police officer with the ADB Bank branch in Sefwi Wiawso was shot and killed by unknown gunmen while transporting money.

According to Bona, this practice is archaic.

“Why should police officers in the 21st century be escorting money? This was done in the 18th and 19th centuries. No serious country does that. You don’t use state resources to be transporting money.

Technology has made it possible to use armoured fit for purpose bullion vans and these bullion vans usually have what is called money shredders. And so if you attack a bullion van, that was in motion carrying money, what happens is that these bullion vans ignite a chemicalized component that spills over this money and a chunk of this money gets shredded” he said.

He, however, called on the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison to invest the money he intends to use in printing new banknotes into procuring standardised bullion vans.

“I’m calling on the Bank of Ghana Governor, instead of producing bigger denominations for us, which we don’t need anyway, spend that money in procuring fit for purpose bullion vans to save lives” he stressed.

He believes the monies which are always transported must be insured.

With a police officer losing his life, he says the death is unfortunate as no one should die escorting monies.

“Serious countries will not use their police officers who are supposed to be providing security for the indigenes to be following monies. These monies should be insured so that when there is a disaster, the insurance company pays for them. So can we take police officers off this kinda duty? he questioned.

Bullion van accidents

Meanwhile, Ghana’s bullion vans are not new to accidents.

October 4, 2019

One person was confirmed dead following a head-on collision between a Bank of Ghana bullion van and a fuel tanker at Techiman in the Bono East Region.

The collision also sent thousands of Ghana cedis notes flying into the sky and scattered on the road.

July 21, 2018

A police officer, who was guarding a bullion van reportedly shot and killed the bullion driver by accident at Odumase Krobo in the Eastern Region.

The bullion van driver reportedly met a rowdy funeral procession on the main Odumase Krobo road.

The police officer, who was guarding the bullion van, in an attempt to restore order for the van to drive through the noisy funeral procession, fired warning shots, which bullet hit the driver.

March 29, 2012

There was a scramble as passers-by and second-hand phone dealers struggled for access to large sums of money that had dropped from a Toyota bullion van which had been involved in an accident at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

The speeding bullion van with registration number GW 1847 S and traveling from Accra New Town towards the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, collided with a VIP bus at an intersection near the Vodafone Head Office.

With the occupants of the vehicle trapped inside, the army of second-hand phone dealers and passers-by who rushed to the accident scene took to looting the wads of cash that spilled from the vehicle.