Crime & Punishment of Monday, 24 July 2006

Source: GNA

Tema Police shoot robber dead, two others flee

Tema, July 24, GNA - A Police Patrol team at Tema shot and killed a robber believed to be in the company of two other armed men who in the early hours of Monday robbed a number of victims in Sakumono and Tema. The robbers attacked their victims, assaulted them and collected items including mobile phones, personal effects, identity cards and cash.

The two others, however, fled the scene after their colleague was killed in a shoot out with the team.

Briefing the press in Tema on Monday the Regional Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Jonathan Yakubu, said at dawn of Monday the patrol team on duty around Sakumono had information that armed men on board an Opel Kadet Taxi cab with registration number BA 952-R had attacked a security guard of the Golden Panthers at Community 16, Tema and robbed him of his two mobile phones, 300,000 cedis, a Social Security and voter identity cards.

He said the robbers later attacked five women all sales girls of Philivan UNEEK Boutique at Community 18 and made away with 150,000 cedis, two polythene bags containing personal effects, mobile phones and a bunch of store keys.

The robbers, according to him also kidnapped a tro-tro driver, Vincent Ahli who was on his way to his employer's house to take his vehicle for work and dropped him at community 16, after assaulting him and collecting his 300,000 cedis meant for fuel.

ACP Yakubu said the patrol team then chased the robbers and at a point the robbers opened fire on the team and in a shoot out one of them was killed while the others fled leaving the taxi behind.

Meanwhile, all the victims have identified the deceased as one of the robbers who attacked them.

According to him information later revealed that the three men had earlier snatched the taxi from a driver during the early hours of Monday at Swanlake, North Kaneshie and proceeded to Tema on the robbery operation.

The body of the deceased has since been deposited at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy whiles the taxi cab has been impounded at the Community Two Police Station for further investigation, he added.