SHOT DEAD! Emmanuel Osei
A police officer escorting a bullion van has been shot dead at Adedenko, Metal Market Road near James Town by a four-member gang of armed robbers in Accra.
The police officer, identified as Constable Emmanuel Osei, was killed on the spot together with a trader selling her wares close to the scene, also identified as Efua Badu.
Efua Badu, a mother of three, according to a witness, was shot in the head for raising an alarm but the driver, identified only as Nicholas, also sustained various degrees of injuries while a female banker identified as Grace Essel escaped unhurt.
Rifle of the police officer, witnesses said, was taken away by the armed robbers while escaping on two Royal motorbikes together with the booty concealed in a sack.
Emmanuel A. Allottey, a witness in the case said the incident occurred around 12:05pm.
He said the armed robbers were four and were using two Royal motorbikes.
Emmanuel Allottey said one of the motorbikes was following the van while the other was from the opposite direction, with their pillions armed with rifles suspected to be AK 47.
“Immediately the pillions got down, they first shot at the police officer before firing indiscriminately; those of us around could not get close to the scene,” he explained.
According to the witness, a lady jumped out of the car to escape so one of the armed robbers turned to her direction to shoot at her.
“Some of the bullets passed through some packed drums close to where the lady passed and that was the same direction that madam Efua Badu was also standing,” he added.
He said one of the robbers used the butt of the rifle to break the padlock to gain access to the money.
When DAILY GUIDE visited the scene around 1pm yesterday, the Nissan bullion van with registration number GT 8592 W with the inscription Mon-Tran Company was still parked at the scene with its three glass doors broken, while several gunshot holes had been perforated on the windscreen.
Blood stains were visible inside the vehicle and on the floor close to where the vehicle was parked.
Police personnel from the James Town Police Station were at the scene to provide security while waiting for the arrival of the crime scene team from the National Police Headquarters for crime investigations.
Inside a wooden structure which is about twenty metres away from where the van was parked was a pool of blood believed to be that of Efua Badu, who was also shot in the head.
At the time of filing this story yesterday the bullion van had been moved to the Police Forensic Laboratory at the National Police Headquarters.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey