Adjei Mensah Thomas (left) and Bismarck Agyapong
Armed robbers operating in the Ashanti and the Central regions have killed three people in two separate operations.
A 31-year-old taxi driver who plies his trade at Adako Jarchie in Kumasi was murdered and his body dumped in a manhole at a village near Juaben in the Ashanti Region, as another gang of robbers killed two people in Agona Duakwa in the Central Region.
The cabbie, Yaw Asafo Adjei, was killed at a secluded bushy place on the way to Juaben by persons who hired his taxi, with registration number AS 7279-12, from Adako Jarchie on May 7, 2012.
The killers, after taking the life of the taxi driver, put his body in the car and drove to a town in Juaben where they dumped his body in a manhole and fled to avert arrest.
Two of the suspected killers, Adjei Mensah Thomas, 22, and Bismarck Agyapong, who by his features looks old but claims to be 18 years, have been nabbed by the police in Kumasi.
Their two other accomplices whose identities are being shielded, at least for now, for security reasons, are on the run and the police have started a wild search to arrest them, said DCOP Augustine Gyenning, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander.
Addressing the media on Monday, the police chieftain said the suspected killers, after killing the taxi driver, cruised in the car from Juaben and abandoned it later near a high tension pole at Esreso, near Kumasi.
Giving the vivid information about what led to the taxi driver’s death, DCOP Gyenning noted that the four suspected criminals hired the taxi at Adako Jarchie to Juaben on May 7, this year.
He said the suspects, on the way, strangled the driver and later dumped his body in a manhole at a village near Juaben and fled.
The four gangsters, two of whom are in police custody, then drove the car from Juaben to Esreso, near Kumasi, where they parked the stolen car at a bushy area and vanished into thin air.
DCOP Gyenning said the driver’s body was later found in the manhole by people living around the area.
The matter was reported to the police who retrieved the almost decomposed body to the morgue for autopsy.
The police immediately began investigations into the matter and they successfully apprehended Adjei Mensah Thomas and Bismarck Agyapong, both of whom admitted to committing the crime upon interrogation.
DCOP Gyenning said the two suspects mentioned two other persons who are currently at large as their accomplices in the killing of the taxi driver but said he would not mention their names for security reasons.
2 Killed At Agona Duakwa
Two people were shot dead on the spot at Agona Duakwa in the Agona East District of the Central Region yesterday when highway robbers shot them while they were trying to escape in a vehicle.
The two, DAILY GUIDE gathered, were the driver of a 207 Mercedes Benz bus travelling from Winneba to Koforidua in the Eastern Region and a passenger in the bus.
Briefing DAILY GUIDE, a victim of the robbery, Auntie Mintah, narrated that she boarded the 207 Benz bus loaded with market women at Akyem Ofoanse to Accra. Between Agona Mensakrom and Agona Duakwa on the Swedru-Oda road, their driver started shouting for help when he realized that the road had been blocked by armed robbers.
According to her, their driver stopped immediately when he was directed by the weapon-wielding men to stop.
She added that the armed robbers then began robbing them of their monies, mobile phones and other valuable items.
She said in the course of the robbery, another Benz bus started approaching them and upon realizing what was going on, the driver of the latter bus decided to speed off in order to escape from the robbers.
She stated that while they were trying to escape, they were ordered to stop by the robbers but the driver turned deaf ears to the orders, compelling them to shoot at the moving bus, killing the driver and one of the passengers instantly.
The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at the Agona Swedru Municipal Hospital while those who sustained injuries are receiving medical treatment at the same hospital.
The Central Regional Minister, Ama Benyiwa Doe, rushed to the area upon hearing the news and presented GH¢1,000 to the hospital authorities to cater for the injured.
She advised the market women to desist from travelling at odd hours in order not to fall victim to such calamities in future.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi& From Sarah Owusu-Darlington, Agona Duakwa
