*By Ernest Kofi Adu*

The Ashanti Region is gradually becoming a den for notorious criminals who have been taking the residents for a ride. In recent times, Ghanaians have been bombarded with news stories regarding grisly accounts of gun-related violence, spree killings, gangsterism, armed robberies as well as cars and mobile phones snatching from the Ashanti Region, particularly the regional capital, Kumasi.

Although crime rates are said to have declined in the region, crimes of violence in Kumasi in particular still exceed those of most cities in the country.

After remaining dormant for many years, organised youth gangs today terrorize neighbourhoods in the city. Areas such as Bantama, Aboabo, Adum, Agric Nzema, Asafo and Tech have become actively involved in robbery, murder and other violent crimes. Gangsterism has become a regular feature in the city with criminals acting with impunity.

Whereas crimes of robbery and killing were previously committed by grownups, modern gangs seem to feature young people, including teenagers who are motivated by the quest for quick money, crime profits and street power.

*Access To Guns*

Access to guns, sometimes sophisticated ones, to carry out their operations and bring victims to their mercy is easy for these robbers and is therefore virtually turning the region into an arms market. Just this week the Regional Police Command gave moratorium to armed owners to turn in their guns for regularization. The command said owners of such illegal arms risked arrest if they failed to comply. The call followed the discovery of 130 live cartridges in an uncompleted building which was being occupied by suspects in a motorbike theft case over the weekend. Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer ASP Mohammed Tanko, said indigenes must help the Police to regulate guns in the region by coming forward with the identities of those with arms in their possession.

Gang-related killings have become so commonplace in Kumasi that the term ‘gang homicide’ is now recognized as a separate and unique category of criminal behaviour.

At one time gang activities and killings were restricted to the use of machetes and knives in areas such as Ash Town, Aboabo, Alabar, Krofuom, Akorem and Asawase, but today, other communities, especially, Bantama, Asafo, Diechemso, Amakom, Suntreso, Adum and Mbrom have been the theatre of gang activity with guns as the predominant weapon.

*Serial And Spree Killings*

On May 8, 2013, the city of Kumasi recorded one of the most deadly shootings at Ash Town with two persons, Kwadwo Asamoah aka Gawusu and Victor Ocrah, meeting their untimely deaths.

Gawusu was attacked violently by about 12 unidentified persons while he was relaxing with his friend, one Aliki, at a drinking spot at Ash Town Down Town.

This was followed by the shooting if Prince Opoku Antoh, a 30-year-old nephew of the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, Fredrick Fredua Antoh, at the Dark City Pub, a popular drinking spot in Diechemso by five men suspected to be armed robbers.

The assailants who were said to be on a robbery spree invaded the pub and demanded that all money at the counter be handed over to them.

They also allegedly ordered Antoh to hand over his iphone to them; an order he resisted.

In the ensuing scuffle, he was shot in the head at close range by one of the robbers after which they bolted.

Whereas residents were still grief-stricken, other gunmen also shot and killed a hotel security guard on the dawn of May 20, 2013, at Bantama after they stormed the place in an attempt to rob guests. This is the latest incident in the series of gun violence that has made the city of Kumasi nervy.

The victim, who was identified as Joseph Adusa Ayisi, was going about his usual operational duties at the Ashfold Hotel when the gunmen struck and killed him in cold blood after he shouted, “Thieves! Thieves!!”

The 35-year-old was shot in the chest at the hotel’s reception as he attempted to foil the robbery attack on some expatriate guests of the hotel, who were said to have visited the area at the weekend.

The robbers took away a laptop belonging to the hotel and later sold it to a miner at Obuasi for GH¢350.

And 47-year-old teacher of Kumasi Technical Institute, Isaac Turkson was shot dead in front of his home by an unknown gunman in a fresh murder in the city.

The victim had stepped out of his room to pass urine, when his assailant opened fire on him around 3:40 a.m.

Isaac Turkson, a Welding and Fabrication teacher was shot in the genitals, as he stood in front of his house at Akotoso-Kontompo near the Kumasi Airport.

Before these incidents, a 24-year-old Indian Sandip Mansukbai Sheladiya had been killed at Adiembra where his Rajan and Riya Gold Buying Company’s office was located.

His bullet-riddled body was found lying face down in a pool of blood by a young lady identified as Charity, who was said to be his cook.

On May 14, 2013, a Chinese national who was working as a chef for a small-scale mining company at Gyeman-Bepotem near Jacobu in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region was also shot dead by a group of armed men.

Meng Zong Jun, the cook, was killed by the gunmen numbering about three who stormed the site of Letacum Mining Company around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.

As if those murders were not enough, a man believed to be in his mid-20s was also shot dead by unidentified assailants near the Afful-Nkwanta traffic lights in Kumasi on Saturday, June 29, 2013.

A gang of four men wearing white t-shirts and pairs of black trousers opened fire on him at about 2:50am opposite the Justice Hotel.

The victim, about five-feet-seven inches tall, was shot when he was returning home from funeral and died on the spot, *DAILY GUIDE* gathered.

In March this year, a 13-year-old boy was hacked to death by the nephew of his late father who attacked his family at Abuakwa, a densely populated community in the outskirts of Kumasi.

His mother and sister were also injured in the attack.

Akwasi Yeboah, a student of Tweneboa-Kodua International School, was allegedly killed by Abraham Akwasi Adjei, while the deceased and his family were still mourning the demise of his father, Pastor John Opoku of King Jesus Anointing Ministry popularly known as ‘Dwankobia Prayer Camp’.

These are just few instances of recent violent crimes in the region. And it continues unabated. Just Wednesday, two people were lynched at Breman UGC, a suburb of Kumasi, at about 3:30am for an alleged robbery. They were said to have attacked several homes and robbed the occupants of their money and phones.

A similar robbery incident also took place at Obuasi just around the same time claiming a life and leaving another in a serious condition.

A 43-year-old gold dealer and his watchman were shot by a group of suspected armed robbers that raided his office at Sampsonkrom, a suburb of Obuasi, on Wednesday evening.

Abubakar Fuseini, the gold dealer, survived the attack, but his watchman, Issah Kasim, 50, succumbed to his injuries and died instantly at the scene.

They were attacked by three unidentified gunmen who made away GH¢100,000 and an unspecified value of gold, around 6:35pm.

*Gangsterism*

The threat of the unknown, random and deranged assailants has become a part of the Garden city. On March 19, 2013, a gang of suspected armed robbers made the country aware of their threat.

They took the city of Kumasi by storm, by running amok on the streets and daring the police, as they fired several shots into the air in an apparent show of force.

The gangsters, numbering about 30, blocked intersections as they terrorized residents in what the police suspected to be a reprisal move.

The police had arrested some suspected criminals earlier in several raids previously, as part of efforts to tackle the growing insecurity in the metropolis.

Some residents told *DAILY GUIDE* the mobsters fired gunshots indiscriminately and threatened anyone on sight at suburbs such as Ayigya, Oforikrom, Anloga, Bomso and surrounding communities, with some riding motorbikes and others using a white vehicle.

According to eyewitnesses, some motorists and commuters were caught in the frenzy as the gang exhibited a show of force, causing a huge vehicular traffic with people running helter-skelter.

Eyewitnesses said the gunmen arrived in droves at the Ayigya Top High traffic intersection around 7:30pm in an all-terrain vehicle and on motorcycles after an earlier one within the affordable housing area.

The incident sprung the police into action with DCOP Augustine Gyening, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, assuring the public that the police were ready to maintain public safety, protect life and property, and warned that the command was determined to get rid of criminal elements in the region. He disclosed during a press conference that his outfit received a total of 200 personnel from the police headquarters in Accra, as reinforcement, to deal with the crime situation in the region.

*Intimate Violence*

Although violent attacks by strangers produce the most fear and create the most graphic headlines, residents of Kumasi face greater physical danger from people with whom they are in close and intimate contact: spousal abuse, other relatives, and dating partners.

One area of intimate violence in the Ashanti Region that has received a great deal of media attention is spousal killings.

On June 27, 2013 at Tarkwa Maakro in Kumasi, a 30-year-old Ama Achiaa was hacked to death by her boyfriend who later attempted suicide and suffered severe injury in the ribs.

The deceased, a hairdresser, was* *hacked several times by her lover Kwadwo Mpiani, after the latter had sneaked into her room around 2:00am when she was fast asleep with an apprentice.

*Suspects’ Arrest*

The police in the region have been waging a war on these miscreants, and so far arrested 18 suspects including one woman believed to have been involved in the recent killings in the Kumasi metropolis.

DCOP Augustine Gyening, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, said seven of the suspects believed to have shot and killed Kwadwo Asamoah alias Gawusu and his friend at Ash Town on May 8, 2013, were arrested from their separate hideouts by the police in Accra and later transferred to Kumasi.

According to him, suspects Maama Lawal, 19, Abdul Aziz Illiasu, 17, and Mohammed Bello Gyimah, 58, were nabbed at Papa Mahama village near Subin in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region.

The police chief narrated that one Umar Farouk aka Seaman who was part of the gang managed to escape, but was later arrested at his Mbroum hideout in Kumasi on June 7, 2013, as a result of police intelligence.

DCOP Gyening said his outfit, on May 16, also arrested Sheila Boakye and Hadi Awudu, and later picked up one Yaw Boakye alias Aliki for being part of the shooting and killing of Gawusu.

The police last week also arrested three members of a robbery gang in connection with the killing of Joseph Adusa Ayisi, a security guard at Ashfold Hotel.

They were 19-year-old Alex Ofosu, 21-year-old George Anaba and Prince Adu-Gyamfi, 21.

The arrest of the Alex Ofosu and George Anaba came shortly after the arrest of the kingpin, Prince Adu-Gyamfi, who confessed to shooting the hotel security guard.

*General Deterrence*

According to experts, if crime is a matter of choice, it follows that it can be controlled by convincing criminals that breaking the law is bad or a dangerous choice to make.

If the justice system could be made more effective, *DAILY GUIDE* gathered, those who care little for the rights of others would be deterred by fear of the law’s sanctioning power.