POLICE MOUNT SEARCHFOR SUSPECTED ARMED ROBBERS (PAGE 20)

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale

THE Northern Regional Police Command has mounted an intensive search for some suspected armed robbers who allegedly robbed passengers of a Kumasi-Wa bound vehicle of their valuables including mobile phones.
The eight unidentified robbers fired several warning shots to scare their victims after their action and escaped through a nearby grove with the stolen items.
The incident occurred around Maluwe and Wakawaka village near Bole on the Bole-Bamboi road around 1:20 a.m. on May, 17, 2008.
According to the Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Albert Johnson, the drivers of the KIA truck and Neoplan bus with registration numbers AS 5628 P and AS 2472 C, Richard Kojo Twum and Yahaya Ibrahim, respectively, were carrying passengers and goods when the robbers attacked them.
Mr Johnson said the passengers, who were on their way from Kumasi to Wa in the Upper West Region, noticed at a spot that the road had been blocked with logs.
He said they were compelled to stop, and the robbers then appeared from the bush wielding guns and machetes and mounted a search on the passengers during which they succeeded in stealing their money and property.
“When the police visited the crime scene, an empty cartridge and a knife were found”, Inspector Johnson stated.
In a related development, the police have arrested some suspected cattle rustlers following the growing incidence of cattle thefts in the region.
The suspects include a driver of the Ghana Education Service at Buipe in the Central Gonja District, Tobiag Segkeb, and a Fulani man called Sigya.
Inspector Johnson said on April 23, 2007, a driver of a 207 Mercedes Benz bus with registration number BA 136 A was arrested after suspicion of carrying stolen cattle in his vehicle that was heading towards Offinso in the Ashanti Region.
He said in an enquiry, the driver, whose name was not mentioned, pointed at Segkeb as a member of the syndicate that stole the cattle. The suspect was later arrested at Mpala, near Buipe to assist in investigations.
Inspector Johnson stated that on May 2, 2008, one Bari Amadu, a Fulani herdsman from Burkina Faso, was accompanied to the Walewale Police Station by Yahaya Tampuri, a native of Walewale, to report the theft of 35 of his cattle from Burkina Faso into the country.
He said upon investigations, Sigya, who Amadu suspected of being behind the theft, was arrested at Kukua, near Walewale.