Car snatchers arrested

Page 3: Daily Graphic, April 23, 2012. Story: Albert K. Salia TWO suspects allegedly snatched a car from a taxi driver last Friday night after lacing a bowl of fufu and palm-nut soup with valium and other drugs for him to eat. The suspects were said to have dumped the taxi driver somewhere, after he had gone into deep sleep, before taking the car away. But they were out of luck and so they were arrested at Accra Newtown on Saturday while they were looking for someone to buy the taxi. The pregnant wife of one of the suspects was later picked up when initial investigations showed that she was part of the team that went to Amasaman for the operation. The three, Ishmael Kofi Asante, 36, his wife, Selassie Amo, 23, and Selassie Tulabor, 21, are currently in custody at the Accra Regional Police Command. The Deputy Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno, told newsmen in Accra yesterday that the three suspects went to Amasaman, near Accra, last Friday, April 20, 2012, between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. He said Ishmael and his wife lived at Kasoa while Tulabor lived at New Fadama. While at Amasaman, Tulabor went to Nsawam where he hired a taxi, a KIA Rio with registration number 3510-10, to Amasaman about 6p.m. Upon reaching Amasaman, he said, Tulabor asked the driver to wait for him and his friends to transact some business so he (driver) could take them back to Nsawam for an additional fare. Mr Yohuno said the suspects offered to give the driver some food while they transacted their business. According to him, the wife of Ishmael, Amo, was sent to buy the fufu after the driver had declined an initial bottle of a soft drink. Ishmael allegedly met the wife while on her way from the food joint and poured powdered valium into the food. The suspects waited for a while to let the medicine take effect on the driver before they would make any move. When they realised that the driver had become drowsy, Ishmael offered to drive the taxi to Nsawam, which the driver willingly accepted. Ishmael was said to have later diverted the route through the Ofankor Barrier and abandoned the driver, who had been knocked down by the valium in the food he ate. The suspects later abandoned the car at Darkuman in Accra and went to Kasoa to pass the night. According to Mr Yohuno, Ishmael and Tulabor returned to Darkuman to pick the car for sale at Accra Newtown on Saturday where they were arrested. After the suspects had narrated how they hatched and executed the plan, the police went to Kasoa to arrest the pregnant wife of Ishmael.