Police foil two robbery attempts

Page 34: Daily Graphic, September 2, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Accra Regional Police have foiled two robbery attempts at the Industrial Area offices of Ashfoam Ghana Limited and a supermarket at Amasaman.
Four suspected robbers were arrested while in the process of mobilising to attack their targets.
Two suspected robbers, Nana Kodua Nkrumah, alias Crownzy, 19, and Agyei Quao, alias Wadada, 44, were arrested last Saturday at Achimota while mobilising ammunition to feed two pistols to attack Ashfoam.
The suspects had planned to attack Ashfoam at dawn on, Monday, August 31, but police intelligence led to their arrest last Saturday while two accomplices escaped.
The other two, Stephen Agyepong, 28, and Benjamin Odugo, alias Mayor, were arrested at Sowutuom while preparing to go to Amasaman to attack a supermarket.
Two pistols and a dagger were found on them.
Briefing newsmen in Accra on Monday, the Deputy Accra Regional Police Commander, ACP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said Nkrumah allegedly contacted an ex-convict, identified only as Amara, 22, who was released from prison a month ago, to join a gang to rob the company.
He said someone close to Amara overhead Amara saying that he had just been released and did not want to be involved in any robbery case again.
ACP Yohuno said from the discussion, Amara was informed that the robbery was going to be swift so that by 6am, they would have parted company with each of them taking away their booty.
He said the police had information that Nkrumah had given pistols to Wadada for safekeeping, while they looked for ammunition to buy for the robbery expedition.
He said last Saturday, Nkrumah went to the residence of Wadada for a discussion, where he met two others, whom he claimed he did not know.
According to ACP Yohuno, unknown to the gang, the police were trailing them and just when Nkrumah and the two others were going away from the residence of Wadada, the police swooped on them, resulting in the arrest of Nkrumah and Wadada.
He said although Nkrumah had denied knowledge of the pistols, he allegedly admitted sending the red bag in which the pistols were found to Wadada.
He said Nkrumah told the police that he was a friend to Wadada’s wife and claimed that Wadada had invited him to the house to meet his (Wadada’s) wife.
In respect of the foiled Amasaman robbery, ACP Yohuno said a night patrol team saw Mayor at about 2a.m. last Thursday at Sowutuom running away from what they did not know.
He said when the patrol team pursued and arrested him, he was found to be possession of a locally-made pistol with five rounds of ammunition.
ACP Yohuno said upon interrogation, Mayor mentioned Agyepong as an accomplice in a planned robbery expedition at Amasaman.
He said Mayor led the patrol team to arrest Agyepong from his hide-out.
The Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio Atinga, said the police had mapped out an effective strategy to arrest the suspects before they attacked their targets.
“We are being proactive and doing intelligence-led operations,” she added.
She called on members of the public to support the police with information about the hide-outs of suspected criminals and their operations to enable the police to smoke them out.