Five arrested for stealing ammonium nitrate

Five people who attempted to steal ammonium nitrate for sale in the open market at Takoradi have been arrested by the police.

Ammonium nitrate is used to manufacture explosives in mining and quarry operations and was not permitted for sale in the open market.

The police in Takoradi who made the arrest named the five as Thomas Bunyan, a security man. The others are Emmanuel Quam, Emmanuel Affram, Samuel Eshun and Evans Ewudzi.

According to the police, the security man Bunyan, who was on duty at the warehouse where the chemicals were stored solicited the assistance of the others to re-bag themfor easy transportation.

The Takoradi Divisional Police Commander, Superintendent Peter Ofori Donkor told Graphic Online the incident happened at the P-Point yard, in a warehouse operated by Stella Logistics

The suspects were re-bagging the ammonium from its original 1,250kg bags into 25kg fishmeal bags when the police chanced on them but managed to escape and left the bags behind.

The police decided to position some men at the premises till the next day only for the security man, Bunyan, and his men to return with a vehicle to load the bags. They were subsequently arrested.

Ammonium Nitrate

Ammonium is an odorless, colorless or white, crystal salt produced by the reaction of ammonia and nitric acid and small quantities of ammonium nitrate are also used as an additive for mining and quarries explosives.