The convicts and items found on them
The Nsuta Circuit Court in the Ashanti North Region has sentenced five members of a robbery gang to a total of 195 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery.
The convicts — Kofi Adu alias K2, Owusu Patrick alias Ike, Francis Obeng alias Amani, Karim Nurudeen alias Kusheshe, and Akwasi Agyei alias Show Boy — pleaded guilty to the charges in two separate cases.
The trial judge, His Honour Simon Nketia Gagah, delivered the ruling on April 30, 2026.
Two other suspects, identified as Edem and Okra, are currently on the run.
Kofi Adu, said to be the leader of the gang, and Owusu Patrick received heavier sentences after it was revealed that they were ex-convicts.
Adu was sentenced to 25 years on both counts in the first case and 50 years on both counts in the second case, while Patrick was handed 20 years on both counts in the first case and 40 years on both counts in the second case.
The other three convicts — Obeng, Nurudeen and Agyei — were each sentenced to 20 years on both counts in both cases. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
Briefing the media, the Ashanti North Regional Police Command disclosed that the gang used deception and blackmail to lure their victims.
According to the police, the group often posed as gold dealers and sometimes engaged the services of supposed fetish priests who claimed to possess spiritual powers to extract gold from ancestral homes.
Through these tactics, the gang gained the trust of their victims, monitored them and later attacked and robbed them.
Investigations indicated that the gang operated between late 2025 and early 2026 in Kumawu, Effiduase, Ejisu, Bonwire and Yawnkrumakrom, and also extended their activities to parts of the Eastern and Western regions.
The convicts were arrested between April 24 and 27, 2026, following intelligence-led operations by a special surveillance team at Effiduase in collaboration with the Ashanti Regional Police Command.
The operations were carried out at Ejisu Asotwe, Donaso, Bonwire, Owen, Nkwankwanua and Akyenakrom.
Police said the convicts admitted their involvement during interrogation.
Exhibits retrieved from the gang included a Toyota Matrix vehicle used for their operations, a vehicle registration plate (GN 886-19), five cutlasses, a hammer, a cutter, several mobile phones, talismans and other personal belongings of victims.
In one of the cases, the gang attacked a fetish priestess at Baamang near Bonwire on December 28, 2025, assaulted her and robbed her of GH¢7,600, in addition to transferring GH¢1,200 from her mobile money account.
In another incident on December 31, 2025, at Dadease/Kumawu, the group attacked a shrine and made away with GH¢20,000, mobile phones and a fugu containing GH¢45,000.
The Ashanti North Regional Police Commander, DCOP Felix Apedo, reaffirmed the command’s resolve to combat crime, and urged the public to assist the police with credible information.
FROM David Afum, Kumasi