General News of Wednesday, 11 August 2004

Source: GNA

Armed men rob passengers at Dawa

Aflao, August 11, GNA - Six armed robbers on Monday dawn intercepted an Aflao-bound Benz bus with traders on board at Dawa on the Accra-Aflao highway and robbed them of their monies and other valuables, running into several millions of cedis.

The robbers, wearing masks and holding locally manufactured guns, erected a fake roadblock on the highway at the spot near Dawa, forcing the vehicle to halt.

None of the passengers, however, sustained injuries in the incident, which had been characterized with indiscriminate firing by the robbers, whose shots riddled the roofing and the side glasses of the vehicle.

Mr. Baba Moro, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), in charge of crime at Aflao, told the GNA that at about 0330 hours on Monday, the vehicle, which as travelling from Takoradi met the roadblock at the spot near Dawa and the driver halted the vehicle.

He said the robbers who emerged from the bush nearby began firing and at gunpoint ordered all the passengers and driver to disembark during which they ransacked their luggage and forced the traders to surrender all monies on them.

Mr. Moro said after satisfying themselves, the robbers fled into the bush.

He said the driver in charge of the vehicle, Papa Edem, who continued the journey to Aflao with the passengers, reported the incident to the Aflao police, who had since referred the issue to the police at Dawa for investigations.