Starting from July 1, 2023, all cash transportation in Ghana will be done using armoured vehicles, according to Alhaji Iddi Sumaila, the President of the Association of Bullion Operators Ghana (ABOG).
He made this assurance on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, saying that the association is determined to make sure that all banks in the country use one of the 150 available bullion vans before the deadline.
This decision is a response to the rising cases of armed robbery attacks on cash-in-transit vehicles in Ghana. The latest attack happened on Thursday when four armed robbers ambushed a cash-in-transit vehicle in Ablekuma, Accra, killing the police escort.
“From 1st July, I can assure the general public that no soft-skinned vehicles will be seen on our roads. We have been using the soft-skinned awaiting the deadline. It is actually a programme we are looking at holistically. So no soft-skinned vehicles will be on our roads.”
He added that this plan was not a result of the recent incident, but had been in progress before. He said that they had made significant progress in implementing it.
The agreement with the Bank of Ghana and other stakeholders was to phase out soft-skinned vehicles from July.
“That has been the plan, it is not because of this issue. Progress has been made and that was the agreement with the Bank of Ghana and all other stakeholders that from July we will have to transition.”
Alhaji Sumaila stressed that they are working with all stakeholders to speed up the deployment of armoured bullion vans to prevent more loss of lives, especially among police escorts.
“By 1st of July [2023], we will see banks using armoured vehicles/bullion vans. However, other banks have not finalised the agreement with us. We have about 150 bullion vans in the country. Most banks have signed contracts with us to deploy to them,” he said.
