Kumasi, April 12, GNA - The police patrol team shot and killed a driver of a taxi suspected to be a member of an armed robbery gang in the early hours of Wednesday after an exchange of gunfire. Two of the robbers who were in the taxi, however, managed to escape and are believed to have sustained gunshot wounds.

Briefing the press in Kumasi, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Seth Charles Oteng, Deputy Ashanti Regional Police Commander, said the patrol team encountered a taxi which had two occupants at the back. He said the patrol team got suspicious of the movement of the vehicle and therefore, signalled it to stop but the driver ignored the signal and sped on.

ACP Oteng said the patrol team gave the taxi a hot chase and when they were catching up with them, the robbers opened fire on the police and so they returned fire.

He said in the heat of the exchange of fire the police deflated two tyres of the taxi and was therefore forced to a halt and immediately the driver fell from the vehicle while the two others managed to escape. When the police got to the driver, they saw that he had gunshot wounds and so they decided to rush him to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) but he died on the way.

The Deputy Regional Police Commander said items found in the taxi included two television sets, a micro oven, a blender, a crow bar and empty cartridge shells.

In another development, police have arrested two people at a spot at Maakro in Kumasi believed to be a den for Indian hemp smokers. They are Kwabena Issa, 32, and Sumaila Issa, 35.

ACP Oteng told the press that police had information of activities of Indiam hemp smokers at the spot and so moved in there and managed to arrest the two suspects while others managed to escape. 13 April 06