Kumasi, May 19, GNA - The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested a suspected car stealing syndicate believed to be operating between Kenyasi and Duase in the Kwabre East District of Ashanti. The suspects, Kwabena Appiah, Kwame Brobbey and Ben Adazy Azigi are reported to have specialised in snatching of vehicles, especially taxis. Briefing newsmen in Kumasi on the modus operandi of the gang, Police Superintendent (Supt) John Ernest Owusu, Ashanti Regional Crime Officer, said Appiah, the leader of the syndicate, often posed as a student of the Garden City University College (GCUC) at Kenyase and hired unsuspecting taxi drivers to the town.

He said on the way to the College, Appiah, 22, would pull out a weapon and order his victims to drive to a nearby bush where his accomplices joined him and would help tie up their victims with a rope before bolting with the car and other valuables. Supt. Owusu said on March 26, this year at about 2030 hours, Appiah hired the services of a driver of a Hyundai taxi cab with registration number AS7545 Z from Kejetia to GCUC.

On reaching Kenyasi, he pulled out a gun and ordered the cabbie to drive into the bush were he tied him up around a tree and called up Brobbey to join him and they drove away. Supt Owusu said the suspects drove to Aflao in the Volta Region where they sold the car to one Azigi at GH¢650. He said while the suspects got away, the taxi driver freed himself after untying the rope and lodged a complaint with the Police. He said in the middle of April, this year, Appiah and his gang played the same trick on another taxi driver whom he hired from Adum to Kenyasi.

Supt Owusu indicated that this time around, the taxi driver freed himself soon after the gang left and rushed to the Kenyasi township where he informed neighbours who later found the taxi abandoned with the ignition key taken away together with an amount of GH¢40. He stated that investigations led to the arrest of Appiah at Duase and that after a thorough search of his house, the police retrieved a dagger, toy pistol and a bunch of car keys. 19 May 09