Four armed-to-the-teeth robbers that defied the law by engaging the Buffalo Unit of the Ashanti Regional Police Command in a wild gun-battle, ostensibly to escape arrest, have been killed in Kumasi.

The hoodlums were on a robbery spree at Kromoase near Santase in Kumasi on Friday when the police rushed to the scene in response to a distress call.

Before the police could dismount from their vehicles, the gangsters, who were poised for action, directed a series of gunshots at them, but luckily, the law enforcement agents did not suffer any casualties.

In response, the police who were equally well-armed, fired back and in the process killed four of the hoodlums, out of whom three were identified on the spot.

Two of the gangsters managed to escape arrest by jumping into a waiting taxi cab and speeding off.

Police identified two of the gunned down robbers as Rashid and Fiifi, ex-convicts, whilst the third, Abdulai Razak Ibrahim aka ‘Fante Fante’ was described as miscreant who in 2006 jumped bail granted by High Court Seven in Kumasi where he was standing trial on robbery charges.

Deadly weapons such as four pump action guns, 23 live cartridges, eight spent cartridges, three locally made pistols, one heavy duty cutter, one cutlass, a pick axe and a mask, were found on the deceased robbers.

The bodies of the deceased robbers have been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi whilst the police have intensified their search for the escapees.

Briefing journalists, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbillah, said on November 13, 2009, the Kumasi Metropolis experienced a series of robberies.

In one such incident, which occurred around 6:00pm at Buokrom Estate, he said, a robber boarded a taxi under the pretext of hiring it, but ended up pulling a locally made pistol on the driver, with an order that he should surrender the car keys.

At this juncture, he noted, two other persons joined the car as they overpowered the hapless driver, driving the Kia Pride registered AS 947 Z to Kyirapatere Estate where they embarked on a robbery spree.

The three hoodlums on board the snatched taxi cab managed to snatch a Nissan Pathfinder vehicle registered GR 9009 V from a woman whom they shot in the right shoulder around 7:00pm, said the Police capo.

He remarked that at 8:30pm, the robbers, using the Pathfinder vehicle, managed to rob a resident at Asokwa who was standing in front of his house, of an amount of GH¢95,000, two laptops, two mobile phones and his personal clothing packed in a brief case.

DCOP Timbillah noted that around 9:30pm, the Buffalo Unit of the Ashanti Regional Police received a distress call that a house had been attacked by robbers at Kromoase.

The police, he noted, swiftly moved in to apprehend the perpetrators of the act, but to their dismay, the heavily-armed robbers opened fire on them.

The police returned fire which resulted in the instant killing of four suspects, he said, adding that two of the robbers managed to jump into a waiting taxi to escape arrest.

On Saturday morning, he remarked, the victim of the Kyirapatere robbery incident was treated and discharged from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and she later identified two of the deceased robbers who were dumped at the police headquarters as among those that robbed her the previous night.

He said a bag which was found at the scene to contain the weapons of the hoodlums was also identified by the third victim as the exact bag which contained his stolen money.

DCOP Timbilla said the snatched Pathfinder car has been ferried to the police headquarters after it was abandoned at Buokrom Estate.

The Regional Police Command, according to him, is determined to sustain its war against crime until peace, law and order become the order of the day in Asanteman.

Source: Daily Guide

Tags: armed-robbers, ghana police, kumasi