An Accra Circuit Tribunal on Thursday remanded Michael Soussoudis, a consultant and politician, in prison custody for possessing dangerous weapons and other military accoutrement without being a member of the Ghana Armed Forces.
Soussoudis charged with possessing firearms and ammunition without authority and possessing military equipment pleaded not guilty.
He will re-appear on May 9. The tribunal, chaired by Mr Mohammed Nabon turned down application by Defence Counsel, Mr D.O. Lamptey, to grant the accused person bail, saying the police were being given ample time to complete investigations before bail could be considered.
Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Elizabeth Allormatu said on April 26, a team of policemen from the CID headquarters searched the house of the accused person in Accra retrieved six powergel danger explosives, 1P berreta pistol, AK 47 assault rifle with 6 loaded magazines, one SMG Uzi rifle with four magazines, a biscuit card box containing three fragmentation grenades marked 10B, 11B and 6B.
Police also found three smoke grenades, each marked 1330-G890, with another grenade found concealed under a satellite dish and a quantity of assorted ammunition and military kits.
The prosecutor said it became expedient to have Soussoudis’ house searched with an electric device to retrieve the hidden arms.
On April 27, a combined police and military team using a metal detector, retrieved one macro pistol loaded with eight rounds of ammunition, one ACP pistol loaded with six rounds of ammunition, one AK 47 bayonet and a quantity of assorted ammunition, all at the boys’ quarters.
DSP Allormatu said investigation revealed that the ACP pistol was licensed. However, Soussoudis could not give any tangible reasons for keeping the remaining firearms in his house without authority.
Source: GhanaWeb
