The Central Regional Police command has impounded close to sixty tricycles popularly known as Pragia for operating illegally in the Cape Coast Metropolis.
The exercise was a joint operation between the counter terrorism unit of the Ghana Police Service and the SWAT team.
Some of the riders whose tricycles were seized were minors, while others were operating without license and no insurance certificates.
Speaking to the media after the operation, the Public Relations Officer for the Central Regional Police Command, DSP Irene Serwaa Oppong said “the operation was to clamp down on tricycles that are operating illegally within the Cape Coast metropolis. The target was on riders without license and insurance certificates and also children who are now riders instead of being in the classroom.”
She said the suspects will be arraigned before court and prosecuted. Already, she revealed that the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) has prosecuted over 25 juveniles who were caught riding tricycles and others who were operating it illegally.
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“We have arrested about sixty riders and they are being processed for court. We are using the LI 2180, Regulation 128. This regulation does not permit tricycles to be used for commercial purposes. The punishment for those who go contrary to this is 25 penalty units or thirty days imprisonment or both as the judge of the case will establish” she said.
According to DSP Oppong current statistics have shown that most of the accident cases recorded within the Cape Coast metropolis for the first quarter of 2021 are caused by tricycle riders and as a result needs urgent attention.
She called on the general public to stop patronizing the services of these Pragia operators, to discourage them from continuing with their operations saying “the main objective of these Pragia operators is to get passengers and make money so if the general public refuse to patronize them, I think they will fold up from the system.”
DSP Irene Oppong commended the Elmina traditional authority and other opinion leaders within the Elmina township for banning Pragia operations in the town. She described it as a good example for others to follow.
“We are appealing to opinion leaders and also chiefs in Cape Coast metropolis to come out with something like what Elmina is doing to get rid of tricycles within the metropolis” she concluded.
Source: Kojo Dei/ATLFMNEWS
