Police Seize Cache of Flammable Materials in Shop
ADDIS ABABA – Police in Addis Ababa have found a cache of flammable materials and chemicals hidden in a shop.
In a statement press Secretary office of the City administration on Sunday, Addis Ababa police said the materials were found inside a shop owned by a suspect identified as Mohammed Hassan who they say is currently living in Saudi Arabia.
Police accused the suspect as having a strong ties with officials of TPLF – a group designated as terrorist by Ethiopian Parliament earlier this year.
The suspects, prior to the change in administration three years ago, was conducting his business under ‘Flammable Materials Retail Trade’ license.
After change, he has been operating his business under a different license, allowing him to retail consumers commodities, according to the Police.
The search conducted in his shop located in Woreda 5 of Nifas Silk Laphto sub-city, has led to uncover a huge amount of inflammable materials and chemicals hidden under commodities, said police in a statement issued on Sunday.
‘Crackdown On illegal Firearms’
On the same day, Addis Ababa police also announced the capture of several illegal weapons over the weekend as they continue their crackdown on Illicit firearms which has stepped up since the declaration of state of emergency on Nov 2, 2021.
The emergency law, officials said is key to ward-off the threat posed to constitutional order, bans moving around with firearms without permission and allows police to search people suspected of having links with the terrorists.
Earlier last week, police caught two suspects involved in illegal firearm trafficking and made another arrest after a cache of bullets was seized in a warehouse.
Similar searches on suspected individuals’ houses in Bole Sub-City have also helped to capture 5 Kalashnikov rifles and 6 handguns along with over 200 bullets, two military radios and other materials, said police.
One Kalashnikov and the two military radios have been found hidden inside a ceiling of a pension which was “closed for renovation purposes”, it said. The remaining four Kalashnikov rifles, six guns and the bullets were seized in various houses.
Illicit financial transfer
Apart from illegal weapons, police in the capital said two suspects were arrested in connection with alleged illegal money transfers.
The Police identified the two suspects as Girmay Nigussie Teklay and Yazew Kebebew Woredofa, according to Addis Ababa City administration’s press Secretary office.
The suspects were caught, red-handed, while transferring 13mln Birr from an account opened in Ambessa Bank’s Golagul Branch under a name Gezai Adhanom with 40mln Birr deposit, to another account under the name of one of the suspect, Girmay, using a driving license issued in Mekel, it said.
Bank checks, a number of bank books and ATMs were also seized along with the suspects, the statement added.