The two Mobile Money vendors
There were two separate violent attacks on Mobile Money (MoMo) vendors in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis over the weekend by armed robbers.
In all the incidents, the vendors and some persons were shot by the robbers in their bids to rob them.
The first incident happened on Friday evening at about 7pm at Ahenkofi where the robbers made away with all the money after shooting the vendor’s thigh.
The second incident occurred barely 24 hours after the Ahenkofi one, at the Takoradi Presbyterian Church area on Saturday, also at about 7pm.
According to some eye witnesses, the robbers used motorbikes in all the attacks.
In the first incident, the Mobile Money vendor, Joseph Ansah, said two attackers approached him for MoMo withdrawal.
“So I requested for their identification card, but one of the robbers pulled a gun and threatened to shoot me if I refuse to hand over all the money I had on me to him, and after seeing the gun I shouted for help but I realized no one was coming to help.
“The two robbers took away the bag that contained all my money, shot me in the thigh, and bolted,” he narrated.
Joseph is currently at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi receiving treatment.
In the second incident, the assailants were on two motorbikes and attacked the vendor, shot him also in the thigh and made away with all his money.
DSP Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) said on April 9, 2021 at about 9pm, one Monica Eshun of Ahenkofi reported to Takoradi Central Police that at about 7:45pm, her younger brother Joseph Ansah, aged 21, a Mobile Money vendor at Ahenkofi junction, was attacked by two armed men on an unregistered motorbike.
The PRO said the police visited the crime scene and retrieved two live 9mm ammunition.
On April 10, 2021, at about 8:30pm, information was received that there was a shooting incident at Habour Taxi Rank near the Takoradi Presbyterian Church.
Police visited the scene and gathered information that four armed men on two motorbikes attacked a Mobile Money vendor and collected his bag containing unspecified amount of money.
She said a taxi driver, John Kofi Abekah, 41, tried to chase them but the suspected robbers shot him on the thigh.
She added that the Mobile Money vendor was not met at the scene, but efforts are being made to get him to assist the police in investigations.
The two are all on admission at the hospital but are in a stable condition.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi