Crime & Punishment of Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Source: GNA

Suspect robs fuel station in Sunyani

Sunyani (B/A), Aug. 22, GNA - A suspected armed robber wielding two guns on Tuesday attacked a cashier of the National Investment Bank (NIB) at the Tyco fuel station in Sunyani and single-handedly made away with GH=A219,000 (190 million cedis) being the week-end sales. Disclosing this to the GNA in an interview, Chief Superintendent Christian Tetteh Yohonu, Sunyani Municipal Police Commander, said on Monday August 20, at 10:30 hours, an announcement was heard by the police on one of the local radio stations that an armed robber had attacked the Tyco Filling station compelling him to quickly dispatch 20 police officers to the place.

He said upon arrival, the police detected that one of the tyres of a van belonging to the Sunyani branch of the National Investment Bank (NIB), had been shot at and deflated.

Upon questioning, the policemen were told that a cashier of the bank, Mr Frank Obeng who had gone to the filling station to transfer the station's weekend sales to the bank as a routine, was descending a staircase when a man armed with two guns suddenly attacked and shot him in the leg.

Chief Superintendent Yohonu stated that, the robber snatched the money from him in the process and ran away amid shooting. He said the police combed the vicinity going as far as to Nkrankrom, a suburb of Sunyani but failed to trace the suspect, adding that some masons working in the village told the police that they saw somebody holding a bag and two guns but because he was shooting indiscriminately, they hid for their lives.

This is the second time the filling station, which also has a bar, a restaurant, a swimming pool among other facilities has come under robbery attack with the first happening in October last year, few months after its opening.

Meanwhile, the police have mounted a search for the suspect while a worker at the filling station has been picked for questioning.