Five armed robbers have been jailed a total of 180 years by the Tarkwa Circuit Court for robbery in the Wassa Amenfi District of the Western Region, two weeks ago.

Two of the convicts, Kwame Atia and Nanjo Bayo were sentenced to 55 years each, Simon Dauda, 25 years; Kwasi Kwaku, a Togolese, alias JJ, 35 years; and Issac Amoah, 10 years.

They all pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and where accordingly, convicted by the court.

However, Amoah who pleaded not guilty in another robbery case would appear before the court at a later date.

The Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Isaac Alex Quainoo made this revelation to The Ghanaian Times on the efforts of the police to stem the spate of robberies and the use of arms particularly, on galamsey sites in the Wassa Amenfi areas and elsewhere in the region.

Recently, the Asankrangwa corridor has become a theater of robberies as armed men raided galamsey sites to rob illegal miners of their gold ores.

A critical part of the robberies is the use of sophisticated arms and ammunitions, including foreign aided pistols, AK47s and pump action guns.

The command had retrieved 12 arms and ammunition in the Wassa Amenfi areas, as part of the operations to check and control arms supply in the region.

On January 11, this year, five armed robbers wielding AK 47 rifles attacked a mine site at Adaase, and in an attempt to rob a miner of his gold platelet, inflicted cutlass wounds on him.

One of the suspects, Lukeman, 29, the gang leader, died in a shoot-out with the police while Tahiru Asibi, 26 alias, 19, died after he was lynched by the community.

“Investigations are ongoing, and we will continue to look for the two who fled the scene, Red and Sumaila. They are said to have come from Sofoline in Kumasi, and we are collaborating with the Ashanti Regional Command to get to the bottom of the case,” he told The Ghanaian Times.