A police corporal was shot and killed by three fleeing armed robbers on Good Friday March 25, in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Northern region.

District Commander ASP Francis Numado told ClassFMonline.com that 37-year-old Corporal Yaw Lopao was killed as he and two other colleagues patrolled a border town between Ghana’s northern and western neighbours Burkina Faso and Cote d’Iovire.

The area, known for robberies and banditry on market days, is normally patrolled by law officers to protect market folk.

According to ASP Numado, the robbers, who were making their getaway after robbing an Assemblyman, opened fire on the three patrolling officers upon seeing them because they thought the cops had been tipped off about their heist.

ASP Numado said the gun assault on the cops was sudden and unprovoked, thus catching the law officers unawares. Corporal Lopao succumbed but his two other colleagues survived.

He said the bad mobile telecom network in the border town frustrated efforts by those who had already fallen victim to the robbers in alerting unsuspecting market folk and townsfolk, thus the sudden attack on the police officers by the robbers.

The killing of the police officer comes barely a week after a popular businessman was murdered in the town. The police are yet to unravel that case. Locals in the area say the rising spate of crime is attributable to the influx of illegal miners following the discovery of gold in parts of the area.