The four civilian suspects
Eight members of a car snatching syndicate, including two police officers attached to the Accra Regional Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT), are in the grips of the law for robbery.
The police officers are No 40965 General Corporal Bismark Ntim aka Striker, 32, and No 44827 General Lance Corporal Francis Opoku Gyau, 29.
The rest are Michael Adjei Donkor, 36, aka Abrafi, driver; Nana Ntim Gyakari, aka Nana Okyere, 28, social worker; George Eshun 29, aka Kofi and Urey Harris Koufi, 32, businessman.
The police are on the heels of two others-Erasmus Adama Nketia aka Alhaji, National Security (Officer) and Agyekum Ntim Gyakari, who are currently on the run.
Offences
According to the prosecutor, Superintendent of Police K. Bempah, Striker, Gyau, Alhaji and Abrafi on July 15, 2016 at Kaneshie, a suburb of Accra conspired to rob and robbed one Benjamin Abonyin of his KIA Picanto taxi with registration GW 7087-15.
Nana Okyere, Kofi and Koufi are each facing an additional charge of dishonestly receiving the said KIA Picanto and other vehicles.
The accused persons, who appeared before a court, presided over by Aboagye Tandoh denied the charges.
Dr. Kwaku Nsiah and Andrew K. Vortia, lawyers for the accused persons, prayed the court to grant bail to their clients.
According to Dr. Nsiah, his clients had denied the offence and per the 1992 constitution they were presumed innocent until proven guilty.
He said the facts of the police do not support the charges.
Innocent purchasers
In his plea for bail, Mr. Vortial, who represented Nana Okyere, Kofi and Koufi stated that his clients were “innocent purchasers by value of the said vehicles.”
He said the accused persons are car dealers and that charges preferred against them were bailable.
But the prosecution opposed the bail application, insisting the case was still under investigation, a position the court upheld and adjourned ruling on the bail application until September 1.
Facts
Abonyi is a taxi driver at Agona Swedru in the Central region.
On 15 July at about 4.30pm, Abrafi hired the services of the complainant who was then working with the KIA taxi cab to transport him from Agona Swedru to Accra at a fee of GH¢180.
On arrival in Accra at about 8:30pm, Abrafi instructed the driver to drive to Cocoa Clinic at Kaneshie for Gyau, who is his boss to pay the fare. At the clinic, Striker, Gyau and Alhaji arrived in a private Nissan Almera car with an unknown registration number.
The three instructed Abonyi and Abrafi to park the car behind and join them in the Nissan Almera.
They drove to Awudome Roundabout where they withdrew cash of GH¢600 from an MTN vendor but the four accused persons failed to pay the complainant.
On their way back to Cocoa Clinic, Striker and Gyau handcuffed Abonyi and Abrafi for allegedly committing an offence.
The driver was compelled to lie on the back seat whilst the policemen sat on him after his mobile phone and ignition key were taken from him.
Alhaji and Abrafi alighted from the Nissan Almera with the ignition key and rushed to the location where the complainant’s taxi was parked and drove it away.
Abonyi was left in the care of the policemen who interrogated and abandoned him at an unknown place.
The complainant managed to get back to Cocoa Clinic with the help of a Good Samaritan but his car was nowhere to be found.
A report was made to Kaneshie Police for investigations, and on August 2, accused persons with the same modus operandi succeeded in robbing another taxi driver at North Industrial Area.
Investigations led to the arrest of Abrafi who admitted the offence and mentioned the policemen and Alhaji as his accomplices.
Further investigations led to the arrest of Nana Okyere, Kofi and Koufi in Cape Coast.
Seven different cars- Nissan Versa, Nissan Almera, Mitsubishi Carisma, Hyundai Atos, Daewoo Carlos, Kia Picanto and Mazda Demio, all bearing fake number plates including the Kia Picanto taxi and Nissan Versa with registration number AS 2954 – 16 which were robbed at Kaneshie were retrieved.
Investigation revealed that after robbing their victims of their cars, the accused persons take them to a spraying shop, change the colours and proceed to VELD and acquire new number plates through dubious means.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com