Tamale, March 29,GNA- The Northern Regional Police last year recorded 24 cases of murder, representing a 14 percent increase over year 2008's 21 cases.

It also recorded nine (9) cases of drug trafficking, an increase of 22 per cent as against seven (7) cases recorded in 2008, while it also recorded 28 cases of defilement in 2009, representing a 20 per cent decrease of the 35 cases reported for the year 2008.

Rape cases recorded for last year were 23, representing 666 percent increase over 3 cases of similar offences reported for 2008, while on robbery 14 cases were recorded for 2009, representing a decrease of 26 percent for the previous year.

Mr. Angwubutoge Awuni, Northern Regional Police Commander, gave these statistics at the annual get-together of the police also known as (WASSA) in Tamale on Saturday.

Still on crime, the Regional Police Commander gave specific orders that Johnson Kombian, the notorious arm robber, who recently escaped from the Tamale prisons, should be shot on sight by the security personnel when found.

He said he was a serious threat to the society since he had broken jail on a number of occasions from several prisons in the country and therefore wanted "dead or alive" adding, he was believed to be in hiding in the rocky hills between Nyakpanduri and Bunkpurugu areas. ACP Awuni commended police personnel in the region for their professionalism saying they handled important national assignments with diligence and total commitment.

He mentioned the first town hall meeting in the country, the Chereponi by-elections, the National Democratic Congress(NDC) national delegates congress, the Damba festival and the funeral rites of the late Yagbonwura's Bawa Doshie and the subsequent enskinment of his successor Yagbonwura Jakpa tuntumba bore-Eassa as some of the assignments.

Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba, Northern Regional Minister assured the police of the co-operation of the Regional Co-ordinating Council and urged the public to furnish the police with accurate information to enable them arrest criminals. "The police are not magicians; they cannot produce results without information from the public."