Prank alerts top over 10,000 calls within two days in fight against terrorism

The Ministry of National Security has said in less than two days after launching a national campaign to fight terrorism, it has received over 10,000 calls at the emergency call centre, majority of which are prank alerts.

The “See Something, Say Something” campaign is aimed at soliciting information from the general public on suspicious activities of terrorists in Ghana.

In a statement on Thursday (26 May), the ministry expressed gratitude to Ghanaians for their support but appealed to the public not to abuse the system.

“The Ministry of National Security expresses its appreciation to the Ghanaian public and in particular, the media for supporting the Citizen Awareness Campaign dubbed “See Something Say Something”.

“The campaign, in line with the whole-of-society approach that underpins the national security strategy, is aimed at encouraging citizens to report suspicious persons or activities to enable the state respond effectively to the threat of terrorism and violent extremism,” the statement said.

“Preliminary checks at the emergency call centre indicate that, in the first 30 hours following the launch of the campaign, over 10,000 calls have been made to the centre, of which majority have been prank calls and calls to verify the operationality of the call line; a development that has culminated in long call queues and delayed response to calls made to the centre,” it added.