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Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo speaks during the Concordia Annual Summit on September 24, 2018, in New York.
(CNN)Three
suspects have been arrested and explosives and other weapons have been
seized over an alleged plot to destabilize Ghana's presidency, the
country's minister of information said Monday.
Security forces in the West African nation
had been monitoring the suspects' activities for more than a year
before their arrest Friday, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
said in a statement.
"The
joint operation was to neutralise an elaborate plot targeted at the
presidency, and with the ultimate aim of destabilising the country,"
Nkrumah said in the statement, which was posted to Twitter and confirmed
to CNN by his deputy, Pius Enam Hadzide.
The
suspects are being questioned as the investigation continues, Nkrumah
said. They have not yet been arraigned and are in the custody of a joint
security task force comprised of members of the country's Defense
Intelligence Department, Criminal Investigation Department and Bureau of
National Investigations, Hadzide said.
The
arrests come a year ahead of presidential elections in Ghana, with
incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo expected to seek another term. Recent
elections have been peaceful.
Among
the suspects is a local weapons manufacturer and a medical doctor. A
workshop was set up inside an empty container at a hospital and was used
to produce improvised explosive devices and other weapons, the minister
said.
The cache also included
smoke grenades, pistols, ammunition for automatic firearms, and computer
equipment, Nkrumah said. The conspirators also obtained chemicals from a
teaching hospital to be mixed with gun powder and other items for their
operations, Ghana alleges.
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