It is tempting to disbelieve that a chunk of the foreign goods entering Ghana under official eyes are illegal and downright hazardous.

This was the case when a warehouse believed to be a depot for children's toys at Anyaa-NIC, near Ablekuma, but was surreptitiously harbouring explosives, firecrackers and arms exploded on the evening of Monday, November 17.

The presence of these offensive and perhaps illegal weapons at the warehouse (tucked in between several houses), only came to light when it exploded. According to eyewitnesses who live around the warehouse, all along, the owner of the warehouse, a 35-year old Nigerian business woman had created the impression that she was only importing toys for sale.

Eyewitnesses said, the fire started when a Kia Pick up arrived from Tema in the night to offload its consignment of toys into the warehouse, but the pick up arrived a shade late after light had gone off in the whole area. With hindsight, the workers could have waited to have the lights back before offloading the cargo. They didn't. They rather used candles and lanterns to do their work. It may well be that the workers were not aware of the explosives in the warehouse.

Boom, boom, boom- the warehouse exploded, instantly killing the driver and his mate and blew a nearby container several meters away. The explosion caused panic among those who live near the warehouse and sent people running helter- skelter.

As is characteristic of many Ghanaians, some people brazed the haze in a bid to take some booty. One eyewitness said he saw a number of people running away with what he suspected were pistols and AK47 assault riffles. The police were also reported to have recovered various ammunitions and whisked them away in their vehicles.

The impact of the explosion was so severe that it shook and tore nearby houses apart, and caused panic in far way suburbs like Mallam, Gbawe, Weija and Kasoa. Little wonder that the following day hundreds of people came on sightseeing to the site of the burnt warehouse.

It took firefighters more than five hours to bring the blaze under control and deep into the night and in the early hours of Tuesday, Fire Service and National Ambulance sirens continued to blurt around the area.

One eyewitness who lives close to the warehouse said when the explosion started they saw the lady around, but she vanished when the police arrived at the scene. According to the eyewitness when she called the lady's mobile phone hours later, she said she was at the Aflao border on her way to Lagos.

The eyewitness alleged that the woman used the importation of toys mask her explosive and ammunition business. How these firecrackers, bullets and guns go pass the several Customs, Excise and Preventive checks raises fundamental questions about security at the harbour, the eyewitness wondered.