Some of the empty cartridges, plastic bottles and a shot gun retrieved at the camp
A hidden training camp of robbers has been discovered by the Tema police at Ramseyer Site in Community 3, where armed robbers reportedly practise shooting before they embark on their criminal operations.
The shooting range was discovered following unusual sounds of bullets emanating from the bush, which had put some residents in fear. They therefore, alerted the police.
Police personnel stormed the place where they met a gang of armed robbers going through shooting rehearsals Saturday afternoon.
The suspects, upon seeing the police, allegedly opened fire and so the police also returned fire, which led to the killing of one of the suspects.
Two others managed to escape but the police arrested two others who are assisting with investigations.
The police retrieved empty plastic bottles which they said the suspects use as their targets, 72 shell casings of used AAA cartridges and a shot gun from the training camp.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Juliana Obeng, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Tema Regional Police Command, told journalists that on August 20, 2016 at about 2:00 am, the robbery gang attacked Sentuo Steel Limited, a steel manufacturing company in Tema.
According to her, the robbers attacked security men on duty, ransacked offices and residences of the Chinese expatriate at the same premises.
She noted that the suspected criminals made away with unspecified amount of money, mobile phones, iPads, laptops and other valuables.
After the operation, the Tema command picked up information that a gang of suspected armed robbers were rehearsing at a site where police investigation had revealed it’s a newly improvised private shooting range located at the Ramseyer Site where they rehearse ostensibly before robbing their targets.
ASP Obeng further stated that police patrol team was quickly dispatched to the place and the robbers, upon seeing them, opened fire, making them (police) return fire.
She further stated that the arrested suspects had admitted during police interrogation that they were part of the gang that successfully robbed Sentuo Steel Friday midnight.
The Tema Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Paul Manly Awini, noted that the shooting range was a new modus of criminal practice where suspects had improved on their tactics due to how sophisticated police in the area had become with the arrest of criminals.
According to him, his outfit was making frantic effort to arrest the other two suspects who escaped, to face the full rigors of the law.
He assured residents of the area of constant police protection, appealing to the public to assist with information to fight crime in order to make the area a crime-free region.
Meanwhile, some residents of the area have raised concern about the incident, saying that the deceased person was not an armed robber.
According to Mr. Edward Papa Akorful, Chairman of One Accord Residents Association, the deceased, whom he named simply as Kwame, was a taxi driver who was returning from a funeral with other friends but told them he was attending nature’s call in the bush.
He added, “A full-scale investigation should be launched into the matter.”
From Vincent Kubi, Tema