Hans Anuku together with his crew members
A popular Nigerian actor, Hans Anuku, was arrested on Thursday dawn by the police for using fire arms without permission.
He was picked up together with some members of his crew who were said to be shooting a movie on the Spintex road in Accra.
The others were George Adu Badoo, Joseph Heisk, Ivy Bentum, Adjetey Roberta, Eluheaka Mensah, Arhin Wakila, Acheampong Mary, Emmanuel Anumaka, Charles Roger Beckly and Sherrif Sandy Brown.
The actors and the actresses, who were shooting the movie for Rabell Entertainment, allegedly blocked a section of the road and fired indiscriminately while ordering road users to halt.
Police reports indicated that the crew did not ask for permission before blocking the road to carry out their acting business.
They have provisionally been charged by the police for threat of death and possessing fire explosives without authority.
Confirming the arrest to the media, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno said the incident occurred around 3:00 am Thursday on the Spintex road, between the Fidelity Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.
According to him, the police control room received a series of phone calls that a gang of armed robbers had blocked a section of the road, firing and robbing motorists and other road users.
A team of patrol men were dispatched to the scene only to realise that the supposed gang was a crew of film actors.
Most motorists who were using that stretch of the road, and upon hearing loud command voices ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ sensed danger and quickly had to reverse, causing a lot of chaos on the Spintex road.
The crew was using rubber pistols, toy machine guns and firecrackers to stage a movie without any permit from the lawful authority.
They were immediately arrested and brought to the station for questioning.
Upon interrogation, the leader of the group, George Adu Badoo, claimed they did not know that there was a ban on the use of fire crackers and similar explosives in the country.
DCOP Yohuno noted that what the police witnessed on arrival depicted a scene of robbery operation.
He warned that under no circumstance could the police countenance acts that are likely to occasion a breach of peace, endanger public defence, public safety or cause public fear and panic.
He advised movie production companies to seek necessary police permit, protection and presence whenever their script requires the staging of violent scenes, especially in public places.