A 35-year-old blacksmith suspected of manufacturing weapons for armed robbers and other criminals has been arrested by the police in the Western Region. Yaw Ampofo is currently in police custody in Sekondi. On 18th December 2010, acting upon a tip-off, a team of policemen led by James Abraham, Western Regional Police Crime Officer, went to Akontombra Nkwanta, a village 20 kilometers away from Enchi, and arrested suspect Ampofo whilst manufacturing pistols. When his room was searched, four uncompleted pistols were retrieved. At his workshop, the police, also retrieved three locally-manufactured single-barrelled guns, ten empty cartridges, three live cartridges, three serviceable locally-manufactured single-barrelled guns, one-live AK-47 rifle ammunition and three live Mark-Four ammunition. According to Hamidu Mahama, Western Regional Police Commander, the police were conducting further investigations into the case. He pleaded with the general public to volunteer information to the police on matters connected with crime quickly. He added that suspect Ampofo had been manufacturing the weapons for almost ten years in the area but people had been silent about it. He added that the suspect had allegedly been selling the weapons to questionable characters in Ghana and neighbouring La Cote d'Ivoire. In another development, five out of six suspected armed robbers alleged to have killed a businessman in Sefwi Bibiani in the Western region last Thursday have been arrested. The six-persons, allegedly wearing masks, stabbed Joseph Owusu Ansah, who could not meet their demand. They wielded locally-manufactured pistols and machetes after storming the house of the deceased at about 1:30 am last Thursday. Police traced the car (number withheld) used in the operation at a village near Sefwi Afram, being driven by suspect Kojo Mensah. Other suspects arrested are Stephen Kweku Antwi, 34; Kobina Asante alias Major, 31; Kofi Tenaku, 28 and Yakubu Osuman, 37. Meanwhile, three out of four galamsey operators in a village near Wassa Akropong in the Western Region died when the pit in which they were working caved in last Saturday evening. The names of the deceased are yet to be known, but the fourth person was rescued. Source: Daily Guide