The suspected robbers
FOUR PERSONS among a group of suspected armed robbers operating in some parts of the Ashanti Region are in the grips of the Jacobu Police after they were arrested in a police operation on Wednesday night in Obuasi.
The arrest of Kojo Annor, Kwaku Boahen, Kwaku Sumaila aka P2 and Kwabena Yakubu came after a series of robbery operations at Atabrakoso, a village near Jacobu and Dunkwa-on-Offin in the Central Region, during which they allegedly shot and killed one of their victims.
Bekwai Divisional Police Commander, Kwasi Akomeah-Apraku, told DAILY GUIDE that the four suspects were part of the robbery gang whose other members were currently at large.
According to the police chief, while Kwaku Boahen, 21, Kwaku Sumaila, 22, and Kwabena Yakubu, 34, were arrested at the Domeabra community near Obuasi, Kojo Annor, 37-year-old ring leader of the eight member gang, was arrested in his room.
The police commander said Kojo Annor was shot in the thigh prior to his arrest after he defied police warning not to enter his room where he had kept guns and other weapons meant for robbery operations.
“As he (Kojo Annor) tried to go back into his room to pick up guns after coming out initially to meet the police, he was ordered to surrender, but he would not budge, and he dared the police. He was then shot in the thigh, yet he managed to enter the room,” Chief Supt. Akomeah-Apraku explained.
Two single-barrelled guns with live cartridges and 12 mobile phones suspected to have been stolen from victims were retrieved from Annor’s room.
The group confessed to have engaged in several robberies in the Amansie Central District as well as other places including Dunkwa.
He narrated that on March 16, 2012, the suspects, working together with others, went to rob Second Page Small-Scale Mining Company at Atabrakoso where they stole GH¢3,000 and refined gold valued GH¢15,000.
According to the police boss, the robbery gangsters, who were using a Daewoo taxi-cab, with registration number AS 3018-11, also took away black gold estimated at GH¢20,000, a flat-screen television set, mobile phones as well as pump-action and single-barrelled guns belonging to the company.
Mr Akomeah-Apraku disclosed that the group later went to Dunkwa and other places to ply their ‘trade’ during which they shot and killed one of their victims before making away with their booties.
The driver of the taxi during the Atabrakoso robbery incident was arrested and put before court shortly after the operation, but did little to assist the police to track down his accomplices.
The police commander stated that the suspects would be put before court to answer charges of robbery as the case was under investigation.
All the suspects, except Annor who sustained gunshot wounds, are in police custody.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Jacobu
