Police nab four criminals

Page 19: Daily Graphic, May 11, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
FOUR suspected criminals, including a former jail bird, have been arrested by the police in Accra.
While two of the suspects are alleged armed robbers, the other two have been arrested in connection with a murder case and a suspected money doubling scam, respectively.
They are John Amewugah, David Agbanyo, the alleged robbers, Festus Kwabena Oppong, the suspected murderer, and Charles Kobena Asiedu, the alleged money doubler.
While Amewugah was said to have been released from the Nsawam Medium Security Prison in February this year for his involvement in a bullion robbery at Teshie in 2003, Agbanyo was part of the gang that robbed a Ghanaian diplomat in March this year.
Briefing newsmen in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Accra Regional Police Commander, ACP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said the police had information that some armed robbers were planning to rob a forex bureau at Achimota on April 23, 2010.
He said plain-clothes policemen were subsequently detailed to the location of the forex bureau to lay ambush.
He said unknown to the suspected robbers, the owner of the bureau did not open for business on that day.
According to him, the police rushed on the robbers to arrest them but succeeded in apprehending only Amewugah, while his other accomplices, including one identified only as Awudu, escaped.
ACP Yohuno said a foreign pistol with six rounds of ammunition was retrieved from Amewugah.
He said it was later gathered that Awudu had been part of the bullion van robbery at Teshie but he managed to escape to Nigeria and returned only recently.
On Agbanyo, he said the suspect sought refuge in Ho in the Volta Region after the raid on the diplomat’s house, during which one of the accomplices, John Kofi Fiagbedzi, alias Spider, was killed.
He said one of the robbery victims of Spider and his gang identified Agbanyo as the person who had shot him in his left arm at Sakumono and took away his Range Rover in January this year.
With regard to Oppong, ACP Yohuno said the suspect visited a friend of his, Kofi Appiah, the caretaker of a house at Adusa, near Pokuase, on November 9, 2009 to pass the night.
He explained that Appiah and Oppong were both natives of Apedwa in the Eastern Region.
According to ACP Yohuno, Oppong had heard that money had been sent to Appiah to continue with the construction of the house in which he was staying.
He said the suspect asked Appiah to give him part of the money but Appiah allegedly refused, resulting in a quarrel between them.
ACP Yohuno said about 1:30 a.m., the suspect entered Appiah’s room, picked a bottle and hit Appiah’s forehead with it when he saw Appiah lying supine.
He said Appiah, in an attempt to escape from the room, fell along the way and the suspect allegedly hit Appiah’s neck with an object, killing him instantly.
He said Oppong then took Appiah’s body and locked it in a room, after which he took away two LCD television sets, ladies’ bags, pieces of cloth and a travelling bag.
ACP Yohuno said the suspect later gave the items to his girlfriend for safekeeping.
He said investigations led to Oppong’s arrest last Friday when he was about to board a vehicle at La Paz, a suburb of Accra.
On Asiedu, ACP Yohuno said a chop box loaded with toilet rolls and covered with fake dollar notes was arrested yesterday morning when he and his accomplices, yet to be identified, wanted to double money for an unsuspecting client.
He said two Qurans, two whisks and some beads (tasbars) were retrieved from the suspect.