The youth demonstrating
The Eastern Regional Police Command has launched a manhunt for two police personnel who escaped from police custody after they were arrested for allegedly attacking a GCB Bank bullion van.
The two policemen from Donkorkrom, identified as Corporal Elvis Solomon Mensah aka Fire and Lance Corporal Daniel Kissi Abrokwah, escaped from a police van when a team of officers from the Nkawkaw Division was transporting them from Tease police cells to the regional police headquarters in Koforidua.
Corporal Solomon Nkansah is reported to be an elder at the Tease Pentecost Church of Ghana.
The cops and another accomplice, said to be a mechanic and driver, were arrested Tuesday evening after they had purportedly attacked the GCB bullion van with registration number GN 1354-15 which led to the death of the bullion driver. The police officer on board the bullion van was also injured.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the regional police commander, DCOP Peterking Gyinae ordered that the three suspects be brought to the regional headquarters for interrogation; and while they were in transit, the two policemen managed to escaped, leaving the handcuffs with the mechanic who is currently cooling off in the Nkawkaw police cells.
An eyewitness (name withheld) told DAILY GUIDE that “the three suspects were in the back seat of the white pickup which was coming from the Donkorkrom Division.
“What I saw was that one of the suspects pushed the officer who was escorting them and the two cops took to their heels. But what amazes me is how the other suspect managed to release his hand from the handcuffs.”
The suspects were reported to have used an Opel Caravan taxi with registration number GR 7860-09 in trailing the van before attacking it at Asifi.
Police officers were quickly dispatched from Nkawkaw, Donkorkrom and Tease to the crime scene and there was exchange of fire between the policeman on board the van and the robbers, leading to the death of David Sarpong, the bullion van driver.
Meanwhile, the regional police Public Relations Officer, ASP Yeboah Nketiah, said on Wednesday at a press conference that the armed robbers could not succeed with their operation because the police officer on board the vehicle restrained them.
When the entire Ekye-Amanfrom youth and citizens in the Afram Plains South District got information that the suspected police armed robbers had escaped, they took to the streets to express their disappointment in the police.
They called on the Inspector General Police (IGP) to intervene in the matter before things get out of hand.
DAILY GUIDE’s attempts to contact the regional police command to find out whether the escapees had been rearrested proved futile as at press time yesterday.
From Daniel Bampoe, Koforidua