Eastern Region recorded 69 armed robbery cases in the year 2002. Most of the cases occurred in the first three quarters of the year.

This was disclosed by the Eastern regional commander of police, Mr. E.B. Ansong, in an interview with Chronicle.

He said, of the 69 cases, 11 were highway robberies mainly in the Nkawkaw divisional command.

Among the five divisions, such as Koforidua, Kibi, Oda, Nkawkaw and Akropong, Kibi recorded the highest number of robberies with 24 cases, followed by Nkawkaw and Oda with 14 cases each. Koforidua had nine with Akropong recording the lowest number of eight.

According to the commander, the number of suspects arrested in some of the robberies included some foreigners and two students from St. Paul's Technical School at Kukurantumi near Koforidua.

He said some people lost their lives in the attacks including three foreigners.

Ansong stated that the procurement of police vehicles by the government in the last quarter of the year had enabled the police to effectively curb the situation-making the Christmas and New Year festivities peaceful and incident free.

The regional commander disclosed that there has been anonymous phone calls and letters to the Eastern regional command of late, warning the police of imminent attacks on the police and their barracks.

He assured the public that the police will surely protect lives and property at all times and therefore called for their support.