Crime & Punishment of Monday, 15 August 2011

Source: GNA

Two dead in robbery attack on Tamale/Bolgatanga road

Tamale, Aug. 15, GNA – Two persons, a driver and a passenger, were shot dead in a robbery incident that occurred between Pong-Tamale and Nabongo on the Tamale-Bolgatanga road on Monday.

The robbers, numbering nine with one wearing a military uniform and of Fulani decent, robbed several vehicles and in the process shot dead the driver of a Yutong bus GN261-10 and a passenger in Yutong bus GC4820Z belonging to O.A. Travel and Tour.

The GN261-10 bus was traveling from Kumasi to Bolgatanga while GC4820Z was from Kumasi to Widana in the Bawku Municipality.

The Deputy Northern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mathew Appiagyei, told the GNA said the robbers used AK47 rifle and a locally manufactured pistol in their operation.

He said the Pong-Tamale and Nabongo area had become notorious for armed robbery and urged drivers to beware of the area.

ACP Appiagyei said the police arrived at the scene when the robbers had finished their operations and bolted to the bush.

The driver of bus number GC4820Z, Acquah Kwaku, told the GNA that when he approached the robbery scene he thought it was a police checkpoint because a lot of vehicles had stopped there and their headlights were on.

He said when he got to the scene he realized it was not the police but robbers who shot indiscriminately at his vehicle killing the passenger behind him.

The driver said a number of vehicles were robbed before his adding that monies and mobile phones were taken away from them.