Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), says the central bank is to provide some of its fleet of bullion vans to assist banks with the safe transportation of cash across the country.
Dr Addison added the BoG is also getting helicopters from the air force to assist Ghanaian banks.
He said: “This is about the third or so incident we have heard quite recently. Most of the banks use pick-up trucks and convert them into bullion vans.
“The Bank of Ghana has taken it seriously, so we have held a meeting with the banks to decide on the way forward.
“At least we have quite a fleet of bullion vans and we are asking them to see how we can collaborate to ensure a more secure way of transferring money to parts of the country,” Dr Addison said.
Lifting of cash
He added: “I have also met with the Air Marshal and he has offered to assist the [BoG] with lifting currency around the country with some of the aircraft they have. So there is a lot of work going on to improve the security of carrying cash around the country.”
The move comes after an attack on a bullion van at Manso Mem in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region a few weeks ago, the armed robbers reportedly absconding with two large metal cases containing cash, killing the cashier in the process.
It is against this backdrop that many are calling for the use of bulletproof vans to transport cash, to protect both the transporters and the cash from armed robbers.
Concerns have been raised about the types of cars that banks in the country are using as bullion vans, especially following the recent incident in the Ashanti Region.
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