The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has conducted a simulation exercise on the premises of the Tamale office of the central bank in the Northern Region to test the preparedness of the security to deal with possible terrorist attacks.

It was also to test the readiness of the staff of the bank and their possible response to such threats.

The exercise also included troops from the Police Service, the National Intelligence Bureau, the Fire Service, the Immigration Service and medical personnel.

Exercise

The exercise involved a sample of 10 supposed terrorists who pretended to transact business at the bank only to take the staff hostage and demanded a ransom.

The security, however, activated their operational procedures and responded swiftly to the threats by overpowering the attackers.

Some personnel, who got injured in the process, were attended to by the medical personnel.

Commendation

Speaking to the media after the exercise, the Command Operations Officer of the Northern Command of the GAF, Colonel Frank Worlanyo Agbebo, commended the troops for effectively executing the task, describing the exercise as successful.

He said threats from the Sahel were real, and that such exercises were necessary to prepare the security for any eventuality.

“We all know what is happening in the Sahel region where terrorist groups are active and are moving southward.

These terrorists need a lot of money to execute their missions and the Bank of Ghana is a valuable asset to them, if they were to get it.

“So we planned a simulation exercise between the BoG and the security services to see how we would respond, if something like that happened.

The exercise went very well, and we were able to identify our strengths and weaknesses.

We will now go back to the drawing board and improve so that we can perform better in reality,” the officer said.

Significance

The Exercise Coordinator, Major Majeed Alhassan Adams, said the exercise had prepared staff of the bank to understand how such armed attacks were carried out, as well as understand how to respond to such situations.

Source: Graphiconline